


Won't Let You Down

by WritersBlock039



Series: The Unmatched Records [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Good Earth-2 Laurel Lance, Good Malcolm Merlyn, Good Slade Wilson, Lena Luthor Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Project Cadmus, Protective Alex Danvers, Protective Malcolm Merlyn, Protective Oliver Queen, Protective Slade Wilson, Protective Team, Slow Burn, Team Bonding, Villains to Heroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-01 06:46:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 54,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13289295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritersBlock039/pseuds/WritersBlock039
Summary: "So, no matter what you need me for, no matter who or what you're facing, I will not let you down." ~ Oliver Queen, "One Call Away"Three months after defeating Prometheus, Oliver Queen's life has improved for the better. His team is in top condition, his position as mayor is holding firm, and he has built a relationship with his son he never thought he would ever have.He owes it all to Kara Danvers, an alien he had only met once, but risked her life to save his Earth from aliens, then once again to help him save everyone. He owes her everything he has.And when Kara suddenly falls out of contact after months of keeping in touch, Oliver won't be going to Earth-38 alone to ensure she doesn't suffer anything like he did.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> One story on Earth-1, and now this focus is on Earth-38. As you can tell, yes, I'm doing Kara and Earth-1 heroes against Project Cadmus, but it's a story I've always wanted to do. This one, however, will mainly be Team Supergirl and Team Arrow ONLY against Project Cadmus. It won't involve the Legends, and some Team Flash members will make appearances, but the whole idea of this story was to get Kara's and Oliver's teams to interact with each other. And because I'm a killer for villain redemption arcs, that's gonna happen, too.
> 
> I always like to say "me + fanfiction = me throwing canon out the window." That's exactly what I'm doing, so my apologies if any of the characters seem OOC. Enjoy, everyone!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Then_ **

**_Lena Luthor_ **

“Yes, I am fine. No, Cadmus has done nothing to me. And no, there hasn’t been an alien invasion . . . yet.”

Lena put a hand over her mouth, snickering when she heard her best friend come down the hall. Ever since Kara had come clean to her about being Supergirl, she had heard these conversations once or twice. And she still had yet to understand exactly why these calls took place every week right on the dot.

“Tell Slade I wish him luck finding Joe,” Kara said as she entered Lena’s office, her phone to her ear. “Next week? Got it. Bye, Oliver.”

“Boyfriend?” Lena teased.

“Who, Oliver?” Kara blinked. “Oh, no. No, no, no, that’s not happening.”

“He keeps in contact enough,” Lena pointed out.

“Oh,” Kara sighed as Lena finished shutting down her computer, ready to go have lunch with her. “Well . . . I kind of helped him out a few weeks back, and since then, we’ve been keeping in contact with each other. You know, updates and stuff like that.”

Lena nodded, starting to understand. “Same line of work, it sounds like.”

“Yeah,” Kara sighed, nodding as they walked out. “Except he . . . kind of lives in a different universe.”

“Excuse me?” Lena blinked.

“That’s why it’s not as often,” Kara nodded, showing Lena her phone. “But ever since I told him about Cadmus, he’s been more concerned.”

“My dearest mother,” Lena rolled her eyes. “He’s right to be worried, Kara. I haven’t heard from her, and that can’t be good.”

“I’m being careful, Lena, I promise,” Kara insisted.

“I know you are,” Lena sighed. “But really, Kara . . . this could end extremely badly for you. It doesn’t hurt to have help on standby.”

“I know,” Kara nodded, biting her lip. “And I trust Oliver enough for that.”

“Sounds like a good man,” Lena nodded as they entered the elevator.

“He is,” Kara smiled. “One of the best.”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Oliver hung up from talking with Kara, hearing a snort behind him. “From what your sister told me, it sounds like you put more effort into those calls than your duties as mayor.”

“It’s something Kara told me about before she left,” Oliver turned in his seat to look at Slade. “She mentioned it once, like it was no big deal, but it’s something that keeps worrying me.”

“What is it?” Slade asked, tilting his head.

“An anti-alien organization on her Earth,” Oliver answered. “I think she called it Cadmus. Yeah, Cadmus,” he nodded, remembering. “It was a small mention, like I said, but there was something else she said that put me on guard. She said they had a device that, originally, would fill the atmosphere with something that would kill her and her cousin immediately.”

Slade scowled. “That didn’t actually happen, right?”

“No,” Oliver shook his head. “But I keep thinking what could happen if Cadmus used something even remotely similar again.” He sighed. “It took me nearly losing everyone to reach out for help, and even then, it was almost not enough. I’m just worried Kara won’t ask, and it could lead to her getting seriously hurt or killed.”

“If there is _ever_ a break in those messages, you’ll have your answer,” Slade nodded to his phone. “The moment you think the pattern breaks, that’s when you need to check on her.”

“Hopefully, that never has to happen,” Oliver said grimly, but nodded. “Kara also said good luck finding Joe.”

“Thank you,” Slade nodded. “Keep in mind, kid, if you ever need to go over . . . you’re not the only one that owes her.”

Oliver smirked. “Noted, Slade.”

He chuckled and headed out the door, Oliver putting his phone back on his desk. Sometimes, he thought to himself as he went back to his computer, it was a huge disadvantage to have a friend over thirty Earths away.


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver starts to worry, calls a friend to make sure he's right, then starts calling other people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Now - Three Months Later_ **

**_Thea Queen_ **

****

Thea walked into her brother’s office and raised an eyebrow when she noticed him not paying attention to his computer at all. Instead, he was looking out the window, looking as distracted as her brother could get. “What’s up?” she asked.

Oliver turned in his chair to look at her. “Two weeks,” he told her.

“What?”

“Two weeks since Kara and I last spoke,” he elaborated.

Thea grinned. “Are you _sure_ she’s not your girlfriend?”

“Thea,” he gave her a look.

“OK,” she held up her hands innocently, sitting on the edge of his desk. “So it’s been two weeks. What’s the big deal about that?”

“Ever since Kara first got in contact with me, we’ve stayed that way,” Oliver told her. “Every week, we update each other. What’s going on with our teams, our enemy of the week, that kind of thing.”

“My God, you’re _certain?”_

“Thea!” he snapped, and she held up her hands. “Every week. Same day, usually, too. This is the second week she hasn’t contacted me.”

“Have you tried calling her back?” Thea suggested as Quentin walked in.

“First thing I did,” he nodded.

“What was?” Quentin asked.

“Called Kara,” Oliver answered.

“That’s right, you said last week she didn’t call,” Quentin nodded, frowning. “Think something’s up?”

“I don’t know,” Oliver shook his head. “But after having kept up a routine that long, it makes me start to worry.”

“Hmm.” Quentin handed Oliver a file he’d brought with him. “Laurel’s been asking about her, too. Maybe if you decide to go check Earth-38, you could take her with you. She’s itching to get out of the house.”

“Partly because Laurel Lance is supposed to be dead,” Oliver winced, understanding.

“So’s Malcolm,” Thea nodded. While she and her father had been getting closer, it was still hard to refer to him as her father. That had been Robert Queen before everything with the _Gambit_ had happened. “And while he knows how to stay hidden . . . ”

“Maybe,” Oliver mused, taking the file. “Thanks, you two.”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Another week went by. When Oliver tried calling Kara again, he knew something was wrong.

“I expected you to be at the office, kid,” Slade mused as he walked out of the elevator into the base. Oliver was at the computer, frowning and looking at his phone. He paused, narrowing his eye. “Something’s happened.”

Oliver put the phone on the table and pressed a button on it. The dial tone immediately hit. “That’s Kara’s number,” he told Slade. “The last two weeks I’ve been trying to contact her, it rang before going to voicemail.” He looked up at him. “Something happened to her, and if something _didn’t,_ I need to know why she’s not answering.”

“Do you mind taking another?” Slade raised an eyebrow, walking up to him.

“You’re sure?” Oliver asked.

“Kid, I owe that girl my life and the second chance she gave me,” Slade gave him a look. “I’m sure.”

Oliver nodded, then picked up his phone and tried another number. “Hello?” Cisco’s voice rang out.

“Cisco, I need you over here at the lair, now,” Oliver said as Slade sat down in the chair opposite him. “It’s urgent.”

“Is everything OK?” Cisco asked, sounding much more alert.

“Well, that’s what I’m hoping you’ll be able to tell me before I get too worked up,” Oliver glanced over at Slade.

“Be there in a sec.”

Oliver hung up, then turned around as a breach opened. Cisco jumped out, lifting up his goggles. “Hey, Oliver,” he waved, then pointed at Slade nervously. “Um – ”

“He’s good,” Oliver cut in before Cisco could say anything else.

“Right,” Cisco nodded, walking up to him. “What’s up?”

“I need you to vibe Kara,” Oliver answered.

“Er . . . sure,” Cisco blinked, surprised. “Is she OK?”

“That’s what I’m hoping you can tell me,” Oliver handed Cisco his phone.

“OK,” Cisco nodded, taking his phone. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes –

* * *

**_Cisco Ramon_ **

_Screaming. Why was Kara screaming? She shouldn’t be capable of screaming like that!_

_Cisco opened his eyes to find himself in a darkened room, lit only by bars of glowing green. The scream came again, this time sounding much hoarser. He spun around and immediately clapped a hand over his mouth, eyes wide._

_“Keep her down!” a woman with her dark hair pulled tightly into a bun ordered sharply, men in black clamping handcuffs down tighter on the thrashing blonde alien on the medical table. Cisco hurriedly moved around to see Kara with tears streaming down her face, sobbing as she tried to fight against the others. Cisco caught flickers of green glowing in her skin, and he turned around to look at the matching green bars. Whatever this was, it was causing Kara this pain._

_“Does my darling daughter know who you are?” the woman crooned, and Cisco turned back around to see the woman lean in towards Kara, looking down at her with cold eyes. “That her best friend is an alien?”_

_“Leave Lena alone,” Kara croaked._

_The woman made a gesture, and one of the men in black holding a syringe of glowing green liquid stuck it in her, making Kara buck and scream again. “My daughter should have nothing to do with you,” the woman spat. “But, don’t worry,_ Supergirl. _As soon as we know everything we need to about you, you and your cousin will never bother her again.” She waved her hand. “Continue,” he ordered. “Then bring her to me when she wakes up.”_

 _When she_ wakes up?! _Cisco’s eyes widened in horror. Then Kara started screaming again, pleading for them to release her, and when Cisco saw the blood covering her, he snapped out of the vibe._

* * *

**_Cisco Ramon/Oliver Queen_ **

“Oh, my God!” Cisco gasped, taking off his goggles and bending over double, taking deep breaths.

“Cisco?” Oliver bent to help him straighten, Slade narrowing his eye. “Cisco, did you find her?”

Cisco swallowed. “I . . . I found her,” he nodded miserably, looking up at Oliver. “I know why she’s not answering.”

Oliver tensed. “She’s in trouble.”

“It’s bad,” he nodded rapidly, Oliver closing his eyes. “Oliver, she was being _tortured._ I didn’t even know she could be hurt like that!”

“How badly?” Slade growled, standing up.

“It’s bad,” Cisco swallowed. “Like, bleeding over the table bad. And she was screaming the whole time, begging for them to stop.”

Oliver’s eyes snapped open, and Cisco backed away from his suddenly tense form. “Grab your gear,” he told Slade in a growl, the man nodding and heading for the elevator, then Oliver turned to Cisco. “When they get here, open the breach,” he told him. “We’ll come back on our own.”

Cisco could only nod as the doors closed behind Slade, Oliver grabbing his phone to make a few more calls.

* * *

**_Thea Queen/Malcolm Merlyn_ **

Thea tilted her head when she saw the Caller ID, then answered. “What’s up, Ollie?”

“I need to talk to Malcolm,” Oliver cut right to the chase.

Thea blinked. “OK.” She turned and walked over to where Malcolm was checking something on his tablet. “It’s Oliver.”

Malcolm raised an eyebrow, taking the phone. “Oliver,” he greeted.

“I need your help,” Oliver said bluntly.

“You know, the last time that happened, we all nearly got blown up,” Malcolm frowned.

“OK, let me rephrase that. _Kara_ needs your help.”

That got his attention at once. “What?” Malcolm asked sharply, standing from his chair.

“You know we’ve kept in contact. When I hit the dial tone, I asked Cisco to vibe her. It’s bad, Malcolm. I’m heading to Earth-38 tonight, and Slade’s coming with me. Are you?”

“When?” was all Malcolm asked as he headed to his room to check his gear.

“As soon as I call Laurel and see if she’s going to come.”

“I’m on my way,” Malcolm told him.

“Good.”

Malcolm hung up and turned as Thea walked up. “What’s going on?” Thea asked in concern.

“Kara,” Malcolm said simply.

Thea’s eyes widened, and she nodded. “Tell Ollie I’ll help Quentin handle everything,” she told him.

“Will do,” Malcolm nodded, taking a deep breath. “It sounds bad.”

“Just don’t get yourself killed,” Thea told him.

Malcolm smirked. “Oh, if anyone’s getting killed, it’ll be whoever’s hurt her.”

* * *

**_Laurel Lance_ **

“Laurel.”

The Earth-2 metahuman looked up when Quentin walked up, a frown on his face. “What?” she asked, sitting up and setting down her magazine.

“It’s Oliver,” he handed his phone to her.

Laurel frowned and took the phone. “Oliver?”

“Are you up for a trip?” Oliver asked her.

“What for?” Laurel narrowed her eyes.

“Earth-38.”

Laurel tried to think of why Oliver would want to go there when she remembered. “Kara?” she asked, looking up at Quentin.

“She’s in trouble,” Oliver answered, making Laurel’s eyes widen. “I’m leaving for Earth-38 tonight, and Slade and Malcolm are coming with me. What about you?”

“Wait until I get there,” Laurel immediately stood up, quickly taking off her jacket and hurrying to her room. “I’m coming with you, too.”

“Thank you,” Oliver said in relief. “If what Cisco told me is right, these guys deserve a good scream.”

Laurel chuckled darkly. “It would be my pleasure.”

“What’s this about Kara?” Quentin asked, following Laurel.

“Oliver said she’s in trouble,” Laurel answered. “I don’t know details, but he sounded angry.”

“Another week, not answering her phone,” Quentin realized. “All right, looks like Thea and I will have our hands full. Be careful.”

Laurel laughed, finding her suit and putting it in a duffel bag. “If Kara’s in as much trouble as it sounds like she is, it’s not me you need to say that to,” she told him, kissing his cheek before heading for the door.

“No, probably not,” Quentin admitted.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

“They injected her with this glowing green liquid,” Cisco was explaining to Oliver as he gathered his suit and weapons in a bag as well, Slade checking through the arsenal, his gear already by the table. “It hurt her so much, Oliver.”

“Probably Kryptonite,” Oliver thought out loud, hearing the elevator doors arrive. “She said it could kill her.”

 _“What_ could kill her?” Malcolm asked sharply as he walked out, a duffel over his shoulder as well.

“What was being used to torture Kara to the point she couldn’t stop screaming,” Oliver answered grimly.

Malcolm halted dead in his tracks, narrowing his eyes to slits. “You’re kidding.”

“Absolutely not,” Cisco shook his head.

“Can we kill them?” Malcolm turned to Oliver.

“Whatever it takes to get Kara out of there,” Oliver didn’t even bother telling him no.

Malcolm smirked. “Good,” he said, walking further into the lair. “And what about Laurel?”

“On her way,” Oliver nodded. “Cisco, you said Kara said something about Lena?”

“Uh, yeah,” Cisco nodded. “She’s the other woman’s daughter, the one who ordered her to be tortured further.”

“Kara mentioned Lena to me before she left,” Oliver nodded. “She’s our best shot at finding more out about Cadmus before we get there.”

“She might even have a location,” Slade added.

The doors opened again, and Laurel walked out, her eyes narrowed. “What happened to her?” she immediately asked.

“She’s been taken by an organization on her Earth against aliens,” Oliver answered, hoisting his duffel onto his shoulder. “My plan is to get her out and make sure she stays safe, and – if that’s not the only Cadmus facility – burn the rest of it to the ground so they never hurt her again.”

“Good,” Laurel smirked. “I’ll help with that.”

“Agreed,” Slade nodded.

“Guess you’re stuck with us,” Malcolm nodded as well.

“I made a run to S.T.A.R. Labs to get you the chips for your phones as well,” Cisco handed a box to Slade, who opened it. “They should connect you to the networks on Earth-38 as well.”

“Nice,” Laurel nodded, taking a chip to place in her phone.

“Thank you, Cisco,” Oliver told him sincerely.

“Just make sure Kara’s safe,” Cisco nodded, raising his hands. “Here we go!”

Cisco opened another breach, and Oliver grabbed his bag, jumping through. Slade, Malcolm, and Laurel were right behind him.


	3. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver, Slade, Malcolm, and Laurel arrive on Earth-38, meet one of Kara's best friends, and get ready to unleash hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Oliver considered it extremely lucky that when they made the jump to Earth-38, they arrived in an abandoned warehouse. “OK, so what does this Cadmus have against Kara?” Malcolm asked as they headed for the exit.

“Kara never told me that,” Oliver shook his head, stepping outside, recognizing National City from before. “Only that it seems they have it out for Kryptonians especially.”

“How to we find this Lena woman?” Slade asked, letting Oliver take the lead.

Oliver pulled out his phone. “Let’s hope Cisco was right about connecting to networks here,” he muttered.

Sure enough, within a minute, he had found who he was looking for. “Lena Luthor,” he told them. “CEO of L-Corp, formerly Lex-Corp . . . ” He raised an eyebrow. “And her brother was formerly CEO. And guess which race of aliens was responsible for planting him in prison.”

“Kryptonians,” Laurel nodded.

“It was Kara’s cousin,” Oliver confirmed.

“Think Lena might know what happened to her?” Malcolm asked.

“I don’t know,” he shook his head, flipping through other links. “From what Kara told me, it didn’t sound like Lena and her mother see eye to eye.”

“Kid!”

Oliver turned when he heard Slade call from further down the street. “What?” he asked, jogging over, the others behind him.

“Seems like she’s been gone for a while,” Slade showed Oliver one of the CatCo magazines.

Laurel sighed, seeing the article written about Kara’s disappearance. “Been about three weeks, it looks like.”

“There’s two different numbers to call if anyone has information about her,” Malcolm noted, looking at the numbers. “One of them looks like it’s her sister, Alex . . . ” He grinned, pointing out the other number. “The other is a direct line to Lena Luthor.”

“She must be really concerned about her,” Laurel remarked.

“Or it’s a way to tell her mother that someone’s looking for Kara,” Slade pointed out.

“Either way, it’s a way to reach her,” Oliver looked over Slade’s shoulder, dialing the number. “And maybe a way to get one step closer to finding Kara.”

* * *

**_Lena Luthor_ **

Lena was going over the blueprints for one of L-Corp’s new buildings when her phone rang. She froze, looking down at the cell phone she had bought just to keep an open line if anyone had any idea where Kara was. It looked like someone finally did.

She didn’t recognize the number, but answered it, turning to look out at National City. “Hello?” she asked.

“Lena Luthor, I take it?”

Lena frowned, taking another look at the number. “That’s me.”

“We’re looking for Kara Danvers. I was hoping you might have an idea about where to look.”

Lena slowly turned to her computer, ready to pull up a trace on this number. “That’s what I set up this line for,” she told the man on the phone. “I don’t know where she is.”

“But you might know where Supergirl is.”

Lena froze, taking another look at her phone. “Who is this?” she demanded. “Who are you?”

“My name is Oliver Queen. Kara spoke fondly of you the last time I saw her.”

Lena paused in her actions, taking a moment to let that sink in. “Oliver Queen?” she repeated, stunned. She remembered Kara mentioning Oliver before, after one of his phone calls. Was it possible – ? “If you’re Oliver Queen, then tell me this,” she said slowly. “What makes it so difficult for you and Kara to keep in contact?”

“I live in a different universe,” Oliver answered at once.

Lena nearly dropped her phone in shock. Last she knew, Kara’s phone was in lockup at the D.E.O. No one, save herself and Alex, who she knew Kara had told, could have known that except the man himself. “Very well, Mr. Queen,” she swallowed, exiting out of the tracing program. “You have my attention.”

“Is there a way to meet? So I don’t have to talk on the street? I have three others with me who have come to help Kara as well.”

Lena nodded at once. “I’m assuming you’re in National City?”

“Yes, we are.”

“Come to L-Corp,” she requested. “I’ll leave your name with my receptionist downstairs. She’ll send you and your friends straight up.”

“We’re on our way.”

Lena hung up and sighed in relief, letting her head drop onto her arms. Finally, someone who might have a chance at finding Kara, someone her mother wouldn’t expect.

With a smile on her face, she reached for her work phone to call down to reception.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen/Lena Luthor_ **

The receptionist sent the four up immediately when they reached L-Corp. The secretary outside Lena’s office knocked on the door and opened it. “Mr. Queen is here, Miss Luthor,” she said.

Oliver walked past the secretary and watched a woman with black hair in a bun, wearing a dark purple sleeveless dress and black flats, look up from her computer. “Thank you, Macy,” Lena nodded, clicking something on her screen and standing up. “And please clear my schedule for the rest of the day.”

“Yes, Miss Luthor,” the secretary nodded, heading out.

As soon as the door closed, the woman let out a breath and walked over. “Mr. Queen,” she held out a hand. “Welcome to L-Corp.”

“Thank you, Miss Luthor,” Oliver nodded. “Please, call me Oliver. And this is Slade Wilson, Malcolm Merlyn, and Laurel Lance.”

“Lena,” she told him. When Oliver nodded, Lena gestured towards her desk and the chairs in front of it. “I was starting to wonder if any of Kara’s friends from your universe would ever check in.”

“I started worrying when she didn’t respond for two weeks,” Oliver nodded. “Third week passed, and when I heard nothing, I decided to come. I’m glad I did.”

“I am, too,” Lena nodded. “Especially if I’m right about who has her.”

“Before we came here, I asked a friend to see if he could reach her,” Oliver explained as he sat down, the others doing the same. “He has the ability to see . . . visions, I guess, is the best way to describe it. He saw Kara being tortured by your mother.”

Lena slumped. “I thought that my mother had her,” she admitted with a sigh. “I even told the D.E.O. that much. Kara’s sister has been attempting to convince the director to rescue Kara, but they barely even have a location, much less know anything about who is stationed there or what weapons they have.”

“The D.E.O.?” Malcolm frowned.

“The Department of Extranormal Operations,” Lena explained. “They specialize in dealing with aliens. Kara works with them, her sister and another one of her friends are agents there.”

“And they don’t know anything about this place?” Laurel asked in surprise. “Nothing?”

“They know about Cadmus, and that my mother is the one in charge,” Lena nodded. “But, if Kara didn’t mention it to you, Director Henshaw is actually a Green Martian. Alien. Which Cadmus hates.”

“Which means your mother would want him as well,” Oliver nodded.

“Exactly,” Lena nodded. “Mother has tried extremely hard to take out all aliens on Earth before. Last Thanksgiving, she tried to release a virus that would kill all aliens on the planet. Then about half a year ago, Cadmus got their hands on the alien registry and took all aliens in National City, at least, and tried to send them off-world. All attempts she’s made have been thwarted by Kara.”

“Undesirable number one,” Slade narrowed his eye.

“And since she’s a very close friend of mine, my mother has not been releasing any information about Cadmus’s whereabouts to me,” Lena nodded. “The good news, however, is that while the D.E.O. has been working on their end to try and dig into Cadmus, identify who’s holding Kara, I’ve been working on my end here at L-Corp. While my mother and I don’t see eye to eye, she is still a Luthor.”

“You said you had a location?” Oliver asked.

“I do,” Lena nodded, clicking a few keys on her keyboard. A screen on the opposite wall lit up, and the four vigilantes turned to see the blueprints Lena pulled up. “I can’t tell you anything about who my mother has hired, and I can’t tell you what kind of security they may have. What I can tell you is that she has more than enough Kryptonite to possibly kill Kara.”

Oliver nodded curtly and turned to Lena. “Would it be possible for us to get directions to the compound?” he asked. “Or to get us close enough that we could get in, rescue Kara, do some damage, and get out?”

Lena raised an eyebrow. “All four of you?”

“I owe Kara for saving my entire family,” Oliver nodded. “It’s because of Kara that these three have second chances in their lives. None of us are leaving until we know for a fact that Kara is safe from Cadmus.”

Lena nodded slowly, then started tapping more keys. “I can give you directions, and I can also give you a drive that when put in a computer, will fry their systems. Everything will feed back here to me.”

“To you?” Malcolm repeated.

“Kara’s my friend,” Lena nodded determinedly. “And tech support never hurts.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Oliver agreed, standing up. “We would also prefer to do this as soon as possible.”

“Agreed,” Lena nodded. “Come back tonight, after dark. I’ll have the drive ready for you then.”

“We’ll be here,” Oliver nodded. “Oh . . . and keep your balcony doors open.”

“Why?” Lena blinked, looking behind her towards her balcony.

“That’ll be how we come in,” Oliver smirked, standing up. “Nice to meet you, Lena.”

“And you,” Lena nodded, watching the four leave. As she watched them leave, she turned to look at her balcony in surprise.

How would they arrive that she needed to keep her balcony open?

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

“Does this seem a bit easy to you?” Malcolm asked Oliver as they walked down the street back to the warehouse they had arrived in.

“A bit,” Oliver admitted. “If Lena’s lying, she’s a good one, I’ll give her that. But she’s also a CEO, that means she has resources. And if she’s telling the truth, those resources can help us get Kara out, quickly.”

“We’ll need everything we’ve got, kid,” Slade eyed the sky and the setting sun. “It’ll be dark soon.”

Oliver reached where they had hid their bags and found his, unzipping it and pulling out one of the arrows, checking the tip. “Then we’d best be ready.”

* * *

**_Lena Luthor_ **

Lena finished working on the flash drive she would be sending with the four, pulling it out and twirling it between her fingers. The sky had turned black only a few minutes ago, and she turned to her computer, looking at the systems running. She was fully prepared to hack Cadmus once the drive had taken over their security. She just needed to wait for –

She heard four thuds behind her, and she spun around, eyes wide, to see Oliver, Slade, Malcolm, and Laurel land on the balcony in perfect crouches before standing. “Wow,” she stared as they walked in, Oliver and Malcolm with their bows in hand, Slade’s sword on his back, Laurel with a few knives strapped to her legs. “That’s . . . impressive.”

“Oh, wait until we show Cadmus,” Malcolm smirked.

“Here’s the drive,” Lena handed it to Oliver. “I have at least the basic diagrams of the complex on my computer, so I can direct you to where the main security hub is. Just hook that up to one of their monitors, and I’m in.”

“Will do,” Oliver nodded, taking the Bluetooth devices Lena handed out. “Once we get Kara, it’ll be a scramble to get out.”

“There’s an L-Corp warehouse that’s closed down for the night about twenty minutes from the complex,” Lena told him, pulling up a map. “If you can get Kara there, I can give you the code to get inside. Once you’re there, I can send a message to Alex telling her you’ve got her sister.”

“Only with people she trusts,” Oliver added.

“She’ll more than likely bring her fiancée, Maggie, and possibly J’onn,” Lena nodded. “And once you get to the D.E.O., they can handle helping Kara recover.”

“Good,” Oliver nodded in satisfaction. “One more thing. We’ll be using our code names while we’re there. The less Cadmus knows about us, the better.”

“OK,” Lena nodded. “What are they? I’ll use those when speaking to you.”

“Green Arrow,” Oliver answered.

“Dark Archer,” Malcolm supplied his.

“Deathstroke,” Slade told her.

“Black Siren,” Laurel finished.

“All right,” Lena nodded, making a mental note of that. “What, does that mean I need a name as well?”

“It wouldn’t hurt,” Oliver looked at her.

Lena nodded slowly, thinking it over, when she saw the Luthor chessboard by the couch. She walked over and picked up the white queen, turning it over in her hand, then smirked. “Checkmate,” she put the queen back and made a show of flicking it over.

Oliver smirked and nodded. “Got it.”

Lena frowned as they headed back to the balcony. “Do you need a vehicle?” she asked.

“We’re covered,” Malcolm smirked as Oliver pulled up the hood of his suit, Slade putting his mask on.

Lena raised an eyebrow, then nodded as the four vigilantes left. She sat down in her chair and fixed her Bluetooth to her ear, clicking a few keys and watching the diagram of the complex appear. “Hang on, Kara,” she tapped her fingers on her desk.


	4. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Green Arrow, Deathstroke, Dark Archer, and Black Siren take on Cadmus to save Supergirl. That's it, really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Malcolm Merlyn_ **

Had the four not known which compound they were looking for, they would have thought Cadmus’s complex was just a regular string of warehouses. When Lena tensely told them they had arrived, Oliver quickly hid the van they had borrowed past the tree line and led the three others. “Checkmate, what have you got?” he asked.

“The first building you’re seeing is mostly for supplies,” Lena answered. “My guess is you’ll find a ton of Kryptonite in there. Bullets, bombs, liquid supply, chunks of rock, whatever. There are tons of electrical signatures just past that building. That might be the security hub. I can’t get past that without getting into their security.”

“Dark Archer, Black Siren, check the supplies,” Oliver ordered. “If you see even a bit of Kryptonite, start setting charges. Deathstroke and I will get into security.”

“Watch out for patrols,” Lena warned. “That was something Kara mentioned the last time Mother had her.”

“They won’t be a problem,” Slade shook his head.

“Go,” Oliver ordered.

The group of four split up, with Malcolm and Laurel running for the first building, Oliver and Slade sprinting past them to the next one. When they caught sight of the first security guard, Malcolm drew back an arrow and fired at once, the man collapsing without a sound. Laurel hastily pulled him to the side, hiding him behind a few crates. Malcolm took out the two guards at the front as well, Laurel hiding them as he entered the building.

Crates were piled against the sides and in the middle, with a few guards with less weapons inside. Malcolm ran forward, using his bow like a staff, knocking two of the guards out with well-placed hits. The last guard went for his radio when Laurel slammed the hilt of one of her knives into his temple repeatedly. He fell to the ground, and she ran to the crate he was next to, prying it open with her knife. She opened it and immediately gasped. “Malcolm!”

He walked over and lifted the lid further, and he froze, narrowing his eyes. “Green Arrow,” he said coldly.

“What did you find?” Oliver asked.

Malcolm and Laurel exchanged looks. “What did you say Kryptonite looked like?”

“Glowing green rock.”

“What did you find?” Lena asked.

Malcolm looked down into the box. “Bars of that crap.” He looked at a crate against one of the walls and pointed. “Get that one open.”

Laurel ran over, opening the lid and peering in. “It’s here, too.”

Malcolm looked around at the dozens of crates in the building and ground his teeth together. “This needs to go.”

“Start setting charges,” Lena said. “Green Arrow, Deathstroke, you’re approaching the building now. The biggest signals are coming from close to the right.”

“Copy that,” Oliver said.

Malcolm opened his bag on the ground, revealing the explosives he had brought with him. “Black Siren, set these up while I watch the doors,” he told her.

She nodded and took a few charges, running around to start setting them up, picking out specific Kryptonite crates as Malcolm picked up his bow and found a hiding place, the door easily in sight.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Oliver and Slade took the stealthy route into the building, waiting for a lapse in guard rotations to move along. Oliver had no remorse for killing what soldiers they did run into. These . . . _people,_ if he could even call them that, were holding Kara, the kindest woman he had ever met, someone he owed practically everything he had in his life to. It was because of her that his family and friends were alive, that his son had his mother, that the man he saw as a brother had a second chance, that Malcolm and Laurel had their second chances. No, he thought grimly as he shot down the last guard in the hall, Slade his silent shadow. If they were going to be monsters, he would return the favor.

“The room should be just off the right,” Lena told them.

Oliver and Slade stood on either side of the door, then Slade took two of the guns he had, and Oliver kicked the door open. Slade was through in a second, aiming and shooting on instinct. All four technicians inside went down, the shots muffled by the silencers on his guns. Oliver went to the first monitor he saw, taking out Lena’s flash drive. “Drive in,” he reported as he put it into the computer.

* * *

**_Lena Luthor_ **

Lena grinned when her screen lit up, showing cameras all over the complex, files downloading at a rapid speed. “Oh, checkmate indeed,” she grinned. “I’m in!”

“Half the charges are set,” Laurel said.

“No sign that they know we’re here,” Malcolm added.

“Good,” Slade growled. “Let’s keep it that way.”

“OK,” Lena typed away, sorting through security cameras. “The first three buildings are out. I don’t see anything that says they’re holding a prisoner there.” She frowned when she found a few cameras that were showing only snow. “I’ve got three cameras that aren’t giving me anything.”

“Which building?” Oliver asked.

Lena bit her lip, checking. “Building six. The very center of the complex.” She snorted. “Typical.”

“Charges are set,” Laurel said. “Heading your way.”

“Good,” Lena squinted, typing quickly. “I’ll try and get the cameras online to check in with you.” She turned her head quickly to check the files loading. “But I have enough here to say you need to find her, and quickly.”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Oliver and Slade took down the two guards on the other side of the building and ran out, Malcolm and Laurel running along the side of it in the shadows. They crouched together behind the building, looking around the corner at the buildings in front of them. “There should be three buildings in front of you in a row,” Lena said over the comms. “You need to get past them. It’ll be the center building in the next row of three.”

“OK,” Oliver looked around the corner. “Any luck with the cameras?”

“They’re grainy, and I don’t have any clear pictures yet. But I see glowing green lights. Building six is definitely where she is with this much Kryptonite.”

Oliver narrowed his eyes. “Let us know when you get an image.”

“Copy.”

The four took off across the yard, their boots nearly silent on the asphalt. They met three guards on their way, but Oliver and Malcolm shot two of them down, Slade slicing through the third one with ease. “Save your screams for when we leave,” Oliver advised Laurel.

She nodded, and Oliver led the way into the building.

Immediately, green light flooded the halls, and Oliver growled when he saw them. “Kryptonite,” he identified.

“Oh, she’s definitely here,” Malcolm narrowed his eyes, taking another arrow to draw back.

“I’m getting better pictures here,” Lena reported. “Most of them look like laboratories of some kind.” She sounded disgusted, too. “Avoid those at all costs.”

“Then where are we headed?” Slade looked around.

As if on cue, a bloodcurdling scream came from further down the hall. All four vigilantes spun around, eyes wide. “That way,” Oliver ran at once. The three others were right behind him. “Checkmate!”

“I’m working out a quicker route for you to get out of there,” Lena responded. “If Kara’s awake, I don’t know if she can walk herself or if you need to carry her.”

“If she’s being tortured again, with Kryptonite injections, we’ll need to carry her,” Oliver growled, shooting down two guards that got in his way. He heard Slade stab them again for good measure behind him.

“Great,” Lena muttered. “OK, the best I can tell you is that you’ll need to run like hell back to your getaway vehicle. Blow the Kryptonite when you leave. They’ll think you’re trying to set up a distraction and will search the complex. They won’t find you leaving.”

Oliver went around the corner and stopped, seeing two people in lab coats emerge on the other end. They froze, eyes wide, and Oliver’s eyes tunneled to the glowing green bracelets they wore. He brought his bow up at the same time as Malcolm, and they fired at the same time, killing both scientists, their Kryptonite bracelets shattering on the ground. Laurel stamped on them for good measure as the two archers ran to see where they had come from.

There were two guards in front of a door barred with a long glowing green rod. Oliver immediately had his bow up again, not giving the guards time to raise their guns. He shot the closest one first, then heard wind whistle. A second later, the second guard jerked and collapsed, one of Laurel’s knives in his jugular. Malcolm and Slade were past him before he hit the floor, lifting the Kryptonite rod as Laurel bent down to check the machine guns the guards had. Glowing green bullets fell into the palm of her hand, and she snarled. “Monsters!”

Slade slammed the door open, Malcolm through a second later, bow raised. Oliver heard the telltale thud of bodies hitting the floor, refraining from smirking. It sounded like Malcolm had finally hit the point where he was past sparing the lucky one who got away. When he entered, he saw Malcolm had even taken down one of the scientists that had just gotten a single foot out the door.

Oliver didn’t pity the man one bit, if the needle smashed on the floor was what he thought it had been.

“Kid,” Slade whispered, sounding horrified.

Oliver turned around to see Slade had run to a cage with Kryptonite bars all the way to the ceiling. He was working on the lock, looking through the bars at the limp blonde lying in her own blood on the ground. “Kara,” he breathed, running over.

“Holy shit,” Laurel’s eyes bugged wide.

“What the hell have they done to her?” Malcolm snarled, Slade’s growls nearly loud enough to make him not be heard.

“Lena, we need the fastest way out from our position, now,” Oliver ordered, crouching down to see if Kara was moving. She wasn’t.

“Working on it now,” Lena answered hurriedly.

“How do we get her out?” Malcolm asked.

Oliver narrowed his eyes, then turned to Laurel. “Sing, Siren,” he ordered.

Laurel grinned, taking a deep breath as Oliver and Slade dove out of her way. A second later, she screamed, her voice breaking the lock on the door and splintering through the Kryptonite.

It also made the Kryptonian inside whimper in pain. “Kara,” Oliver ran to her side, gently rolling her over. Her blue eyes, once so full of life, were glazed over with pain, barely seeing. Her blonde hair was stained with red, and Oliver could barely make out the S on her chest because of it all. “Damn them all,” he hissed angrily.

“You carry her, kid,” Slade narrowed his eye, drawing his sword once more. “Leave these monsters to us.”

“Black Siren’s scream set the facility on alert,” Lena warned. “So far, it’s just in your part of the complex, but you need to go, now.”

Oliver bent and lifted Kara bridal style, swallowing hard when her head lolled back, shifting his grip so he supported her better. Malcolm and Laurel instantly moved to his sides protectively, Slade the first out the door. Very few soldiers made it past Slade and his swordsmanship; those who did were shot down by Malcolm or stabbed violently by Laurel. Lena calmly guided them through the building, the group leaving a trail of bodies in their wake.

When they made it out, Oliver sprinted for the tree line, Malcolm hurrying to catch up to him. The Dark Archer fired at the guards in their way, Slade and Laurel carving through the souls unfortunate enough to try and stop them. When they had nearly reached the van, Oliver ordered, “Blow it up, Checkmate.”

As Slade leapt into the front, Oliver and Laurel in back attempting to stop the blood still seeping from Kara, the warehouse where Malcolm and Laurel had discovered the Kryptonite exploded into a massive fireball. Slade whipped the wheel around and roared off, Oliver squeezing Kara’s hand and desperately hoping the Kryptonian would hang on until they found the help she needed, and hoping her sister came through.


	5. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex Danvers meets Oliver Queen, Malcolm Merlyn, Slade Wilson, and Laurel Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Alex Danvers_ **

In a bar populated by aliens not far in National City, an auburn-haired woman bent down, eyeing down her cue. She smirked and lined up her move before taking the shot.

The white ball hit the striped ball, and it sank right into the pocket in the corner of the table. “Way to go, Danvers,” the police detective leaning on her own cue grinned.

“Thanks,” Alex smirked at her fiancée, moving around to line up another shot.

Before she could, her cell phone rang. “Who’d be calling you now?” Maggie frowned.

“I don’t know,” Alex frowned, straightening and pulling out her phone. When she saw the Caller ID, she blinked and answered. “What do you want, Luthor?”

“We found Kara,” Lena got straight to the point.

Alex’s eyes widened, and she actually dropped her cue. “Alex?” Maggie quickly moved around the pool table.

“You did?” Alex croaked out, sinking into a seat, clinging to the back of the chair with white fingers. “How?”

“With help,” Lena answered. “Look, you’ll need to get to Kara for it all to make sense.”

“OK,” Alex took a deep breath, standing back up. “Where is she?”

“I’m sending you the coordinates now. I won’t say over the phone. But as soon as you find her . . . you need to get medical attention for her.”

“Thank you,” Alex swallowed, turning to Maggie. “Thank you _so_ much.”

“Get there quickly, Alex. She’s not doing well.”

“Alex?” Maggie asked as Alex hung up.

“It’s Kara,” Alex whispered, the detective’s eyes widening. “She’s hurt, but she’s been found.”

“Where is she?” Maggie asked, grabbing hers and Alex’s cues and heading to the rack, putting them up.

Alex flicked through her phone, finding a message from Lena. “Here,” she answered, showing Maggie the coordinates sent by Lena.

“All right,” Maggie took out her GPS, plugging the coordinates in, showing Alex the way to her car. “Let’s go get your sister.”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Slade broke every speed limit to reach the warehouse Lena had given them coordinates to. He hadn’t even put the van in park before Oliver was scrambling out with Kara. “How is she?” Malcolm asked, hurrying to follow.

“Well, her heart’s still beating,” Oliver laid Kara down on the ground, checking her pulse. “It’s faint, but there.”

“I called Alex while you were driving,” Lena told them. “She should be on her way.”

“Good,” Oliver muttered, checking his watch. “I hope this D.E.O. is on standby.”

“If not, Director J’onzz will get them all off their asses to make sure Kara’s all right.”

“He better,” Laurel continued pressing down on one of Kara’s deeper wounds. The normally confident blonde now looked sick to her stomach. “How much of this did they put in her?”

“Better question, how much did they _surround_ her with?” Malcolm asked, bow held tightly in his hand; Oliver looked around quickly to see Slade had gone to the second floor of the warehouse, sniper rifle in hand. “We saw one warehouse full and blew it to dust, but even the building she was held in . . . ”

“The bracelets, the bullets,” Oliver ground his teeth. “It’s been killing her.”

“Kid,” Slade warned.

Oliver looked behind him, narrowing his eyes when he heard the sound of a car speeding their way. “Malcolm,” he nodded to Kara, standing up and pulling up his hood.

Malcolm nodded and stood protectively in front of Kara, blocking her from view of the door while pulling up his hood as well. Laurel shifted so she was on her heels by Kara’s head, one of her hands still stemming the flow of blood, the other gripping one of her remaining knives with a white grip. Oliver took his bow and nocked an arrow, walking towards the doors of the warehouse, shifting so he was in the shadows. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Slade shift so he had a better view of the doors. Oliver took a quick glance out and narrowed his eyes when he saw a police car whip into the drive. Curiously, its lights weren’t on.

Then he saw the auburn-haired woman scramble out of the passenger’s seat, looking frantic.

* * *

**_Alex Danvers/Oliver Queen_ **

Maggie quickly put her car in park, Alex getting out of the car a split second before she did. “We’re not the only ones here,” she noticed the van at once.

“Lena said _we,”_ Alex remembered, reaching for her gun.

“If this ‘we’ have Kara and are friendlies, don’t be so quick to pull the trigger, Danvers,” Maggie warned, even as she put a hand on hers.

They paused at the open doors to the warehouse, exchanging looks before stepping in at the same time.

At once, they heard the telltale click of a rifle, then a hissing noise. “Hands in the air,” a rough voice ordered. “And give your names.”

Alex instantly obeyed. “Alex Danvers,” she said, her voice wobbling slightly. “Lena Luthor said my sister is here.”

“Maggie Sawyer,” Maggie gave her name. “Alex’s fiancée. We were at the bar together when she got the message. I gave her a ride.”

She could make out a man clad in black leathers towards the far end of the warehouse, aiming a bow at them. A blonde woman was crouched behind him – not Kara, but just as fierce, in black leather as well. She heard a sound next to her, then a man entirely in green appeared in front of her, a hood and mask hiding his features. “Your badge,” he ordered. Maggie slowly reached for it with one hand, then held it up. The man took a look at it, then turned to Alex. “Show me the message.” Alex swallowed, then took out her phone. She opened her messaging app and pulled up the coordinates, showing it to the man. He gave it a long look before relaxing ever so slightly. “Clear.”

The clicking sound came again, and Maggie turned to her left. She could barely see flashes of orange as a figure stood, then heard Alex gasp. She turned back to see the man in green remove his hood, followed by the mask. It was a rather handsome blonde man with piercing green eyes. “You know him, Danvers?” Maggie asked, seeing the man in black leathers behind him remove his hood as well. Unlike the man in green, he had no mask. Right away, she saw his black hair and ice blue eyes.

“I’ve heard of him,” Alex swallowed. “You’re the Green Arrow. Oliver Queen.”

The name meant nothing to Maggie, but the man nodded. “Yes, I am. I’m sorry we had to meet like this, Alex.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Alex bit her lip. “But . . . Kara?”

Oliver stepped to the side and nodded at the man in black. He, too, stepped aside, and Maggie’s eyes bugged wide when she saw the blonde alien sprawled on the concrete ground. “Holy shit!”

“Kara!” Alex burst forward. “Oh, my God!”

“What did they do to her?” Maggie turned to Oliver as they followed Alex over.

“We don’t know everything they did,” Oliver answered, watching as Alex fell to her knees by her sister, the other blonde woman easing back slightly, Alex helping her try and stop more of the bleeding. “What we do know for sure is that she took several Kryptonite injections, and one of the warehouses we blew up was packed full of Kryptonite.”

“Not to mention the bracelets worn by the scientists we took out, and the Kryptonite bullets in their guns,” the man in black added.

“It was a living hell for her,” an Australian voice from behind said, and Maggie turned to see the man with the sniper rifle approach. “And I am glad we got her out of it.”

“Kara,” Alex whimpered, reaching with a trembling hand to check her sister for a pulse.

“Alex, we need to get her to the D.E.O.,” Maggie told her gently. “They can help her.”

“I hope so,” the blonde woman muttered.

Alex frowned at her, but Oliver shook his head. “I should warn you, Alex, that the four of us here especially have varying forms of trust issues,” he told her. “When I asked Kara for her help, it was because I needed someone I absolutely trusted to help me. Not only did she come with barely any information other than that, but she saved every single one of us. My sister, my son, my team. And the three people I brought with me all owe her for having a second chance to prove themselves. We came here to make sure she was safe.” His green eyes hardened. “I promise, Alex, I will not leave until Cadmus is utterly destroyed.”

“Kid speaks for all of us,” the Australian nodded. “We’re not going anywhere.”

“Thank you,” Alex swallowed. “Uh . . . ”

“Malcolm Merlyn,” the man in black introduced himself.

“Slade Wilson,” the Australian nodded.

“Laurel Lance,” the blonde finished.

“Right,” Alex took a deep breath. “I’ll call J’onn. We need to get Kara to the D.E.O.”

“I can take her there in my car right away,” Maggie volunteered. “Lights and everything. We’re not all going to fit, though.”

“So then we just follow behind you,” Oliver shrugged. “Not that hard.”

Alex chewed her lip, and Maggie put her hand on her shoulder. “It’ll be OK, Danvers,” she said quietly. “I’ll get her there, I promise.”

“I know,” Alex mumbled. “I just don’t want to leave her.”

“Slade, Malcolm, go with Maggie, stay with Kara,” Oliver looked at the two men. “Don’t even budge from her side. Laurel and I can follow behind, with Alex.”

“Got it,” Malcolm nodded as Slade bent down to carefully lift Kara into his arms.

“As fast as you can, Maggie, please,” Alex pleaded.

“Then we better get moving,” Maggie started walking backwards. “See you there, Danvers.”

She took off into a jog, Malcolm behind her, Slade bringing up the rear, careful not to harm Kara. “They won’t let anything happen to her,” Oliver promised Alex, helping her stand.

“I’d like to see anyone try to even put a hand on her,” Laurel snickered as they headed out the door, already hearing Maggie’s sirens start.

Oliver looked down when his phone rang, and he frowned but answered it. “Mayor Queen.”

“Oliver, it’s me,” Thea’s voice said. “Quentin’s with me.”

“How’s it going?” Quentin asked in concern.

“I’ll call you back in a few hours or so,” Oliver answered, sliding into the driver’s seat of the van, Alex climbing into the passenger’s side. “We’ve found Kara, but . . . ” He took a deep breath as he put the key in the ignition. “It’s bad.”

There was silence on the other line. “Please tell me she’s alive,” Thea whispered.

“She is,” Oliver turned the van on, backing out of the drive. “But barely. We’re heading to see how she’s doing right now.”

“Keep us updated, Oliver,” Quentin told him.

“Should we tell the others?” Thea asked.

Oliver considered, watching Alex fiddle with her phone. “Tell them we’re here,” he finally said. “Don’t tell them about Kara until I call back.”

“Got it, Ollie.”

“Give her our best,” Quentin added.

“Thanks.” Oliver hung up without further ado. “Where are we going?”

Alex took a deep breath, then started giving him directions. Laurel saw her hands shaking, then turned her own attention back to National City. If they were going to be there for a while, she might as well get a sense of where everything was. Alex finally put her phone to her ear. “J’onn?” she said. “It’s Alex.” She closed her eyes. “We’ve got Kara.”


	6. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Earth-1 vigilantes meet Winn and J'onn and get Kara to safety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Malcolm Merlyn_ **

Maggie whipped her car into the D.E.O. garage, shutting the siren off. She unlocked the car and got out, watching D.E.O. agents run over, a gurney with them, a few of them with lab coats on. “Where is she?” one of them asked.

“Here,” Slade answered, exiting from the back of the car, Kara in his grasp.

“One wrong move with her, and no one else touches her until her sister gets here,” Malcolm growled warningly.

The doctor nodded, and Slade carefully placed Kara on the gurney. He and Malcolm helped with pushing the gurney, Maggie jogging alongside them. “What happened to her?” the doctor asked, pulling out a tablet.

“What we know for sure, Kryptonite injections,” Malcolm answered, letting Slade’s steel gaze start memorizing the layout of the D.E.O. building. Several agents were staring in horror at Kara’s limp form. “We also blew up a warehouse packed to the brim with Kryptonite. The scientists we saw had Kryptonite bracelets, and the soldiers had Kryptonite bullets.”

“She hasn’t woken up since we found her,” Slade added.

“We’ll get her under sun lamps right away,” the doctor tapped something into her tablet. “We’ll let you know when she starts to heal – ”

“Oh, no,” Malcolm shook his head instantly. “We’re not leaving her.”

The doctor narrowed her eyes. “Sir – ”

“I would think that the people who saved her life would at least be able to stay with her,” Maggie interrupted, eyeing both men. “Agent Danvers is on her way with the two others. Let them in.”

The doctor narrowed her eyes. “The director isn’t going to like that.”

“We can handle the director,” Maggie said sharply. “Supergirl doesn’t have a lot of time. Either we all go, or you can explain to my fiancée why her sister hasn’t gone under yet.”

Apparently, that was a dire threat. The doctor paled slightly and nodded. “This way,” she told Malcolm and Slade, going after the gurney.

They were heading towards the labs when they passed by what looked like the main command hub, complete with computers, monitors, and what appeared to be some sort of hologram table. As soon as Kara passed, one of the men working on the computers abruptly squawked and shot up like a bullet. “Oh, my God!” he ran over, eyes as wide as dinner plates. “Is that – ?”

“It’s her,” Maggie nodded, putting her hands on the man’s shoulders. “Tell James if you want to, but this needs to be kept low right now. Alex should be here any minute, OK?”

“OK,” he nodded, taking a few deep breaths. “Oh, my God . . . ” After a moment, he pointed between Slade and Malcolm. “OK, what do I tell the boss about them?”

One of Malcolm’s eyebrows shot up. “Not just a regular agent, I’m guessing?”

“No,” Maggie shook her head. “Winn was the first friend Kara had at CatCo. He joined the D.E.O. about a year ago.”

“Hi,” Winn waved awkwardly.

“They’re the ones who helped save Supergirl,” Maggie added.

“They are?!” his eyes widened comically.

Further conversation, however, was cut off by a scream coming from the direction of the medbay. Both Malcolm and Slade were off in a second, faster than Maggie could see. “Hey!” she ran after them.

She froze in the doorway when she saw Kara spasming on the table, the doctors attempting to hold her down. “Oh, my God,” Winn put his hands over his mouth.

“Sun lamps, now!” the head doctor barked out as Malcolm and Slade lent their strength to the others, holding down her shoulders, both of them wincing at the effort it took. “Sun lamps, come on!”

“Come on, Kara,” Malcolm hissed under his breath. “Hold on.”

“Hold on, little one,” Slade checked the heart monitor Kara was attached to, seeing it jump repeatedly. “Don’t you die on us now.”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

When Oliver slammed on the brakes in the garage, he could see Maggie running to meet them, her eyes wide. “What’s going on?” Alex asked as she jumped out.

“She started seizing a few minutes ago,” Maggie swallowed.

“What?” Laurel blanched.

Alex took off in a dead sprint, Oliver right behind her. Maggie and Laurel followed behind them. “Winn!” Alex yelled, her eyes wide in terror. _“Winn!”_

“Here!” a lanky brunette appeared in front of them, looking just as scared. “Alex, you’ve got to get in there, she started screaming – ”

“She _what?”_ Oliver demanded, running past him.

“Oliver!” Alex shouted as Laurel followed behind him.

Sure enough, they could hear Kara’s screams from just down the hall. Oliver put on an extra burst of speed and rushed past a few men in uniform that attempted to stop him. Malcolm and Slade were the only ones close to Kara, both of them grimacing at how loudly she was screaming, but she was thrashing about, and they were the only ones attempting to hold her down. “What happened?” Oliver demanded, walking in, hearing Alex and Maggie run in behind them.

“The doctors brought her in, started hooking her up to monitor vitals,” Malcolm answered, dodging a flailing arm. “She started seizing and screaming a moment later.”

“They settled the medical seizing easily, kid,” Slade told him, nodding at the sun lamps surrounding the bed. “This is psychological.”

Kara suddenly started whimpering instead of screaming, but she was breathing hard, and Oliver had to bend down to hear what she was saying. He frowned, however, when he didn’t recognize the language. “Is this Kryptonian?” he looked up at Alex.

She hurried over to listen, hearing her tone rise in pitch, and she swallowed. “Yes. It’s Kryptonian. But I can’t understand it.”

“She’s asking for them to stop.” Oliver tensed and looked up, seeing Alex straighten when she saw the black man standing in the doorway. He was staring at Kara, an unreadable expression on his face, but Oliver could see the hints of fear in his eyes. It was faint, but it was there. “She’s begging them to stop.”

Oliver looked back at Kara, seeing the tears starting to run from her eyes, and he finally moved forward of his own accord, lifting one hand to her face. “Kara,” he bent down to whisper to her. “You’re not there. You’re at the D.E.O. Your sister’s here. Your friends are here. Malcolm, Slade, and Laurel are here. We’re here. You’re safe. You’re away from Cadmus. You’re safe.”

He kept repeating those words over and over, watching as Kara slowly stopped spasming. When Slade caught what Oliver was repeating, he joined in. Malcolm, Laurel, and Alex were soon repeating the words as well, helping to soothe Kara.

A minute or two later, Kara was finally lying still, still enough that Malcolm and Slade hesitantly released her. A second later, her eyelids fluttered. “Come on, Kara,” Oliver whispered, stroking her cheek with his thumb. “Wake up.”

When her eyes open, Oliver let out his breath in a rush, seeing the raw pain in Kara’s normally cheerful blue orbs. “Oliver?” she barely managed to say.

He simply nodded, and Kara broke into sobs. Oliver leaned down to hug her gently, Slade closing his eye in relief, Malcolm’s entire body relaxing. Laurel silently moved to the side to allow Alex to run to Kara’s side, Winn collapsing into a chair nearby. “You’re safe,” Oliver told Kara reassuringly, squeezing lightly. “No Kryptonite, no Cadmus. You’re _safe.”_

“Thank you,” she choked out, burying her head in his shoulder. “Thank you _so_ much.”

“How did you know?” Alex asked quietly.

Oliver looked up at her. “We’ve kept in contact since she came to our universe,” he answered. “Regular contact, too. When the pattern broke, I became concerned.” He looked down, scowling when he saw the multiple stabs and tears in Kara’s suit. “And I decided to come and ensure she was OK.”

“Thank God you did,” Winn seemed unable to tear his eyes away from Kara. “Or else . . . ”

Kara managed to give Oliver another smile before pulling away slightly to take a look around. A moment later, she shot upright, eyes wide, only to groan and close her eyes, doubling over. “Whoa,” Alex reached out to help support her, Oliver’s arm going around the alien’s back to keep her upright. “Easy.”

“Slade?” Kara croaked, head whipping back and forth. “Malcolm? Laurel?”

“Hello, little one,” Slade smiled.

“Miss us?” Malcolm grinned.

“Would it bruise your egos if I said yes?” Kara gave a small smile.

Malcolm laughed. “How about that. Someone actually _does_ appreciate us!”

“Shut up, Merlyn,” Laurel grumbled, walking forward, a smile on her face. “You scared us.”

“Sorry,” Kara smiled sheepishly, curling into Laurel when the older blonde hugged her.

Out of the corner of his eye, Oliver saw the black man give him a pointed look before leaving. “I’ll be back,” he told Kara, giving her a reassuring smile before straightening. “Does it need saying?” he asked the others.

Slade smirked, and Malcolm rested a hand on his sword hilt; no, “protect Kara” did not need to be said at all, judging by the sudden wary looks the two men were getting. Satisfied, Oliver followed after the other man, letting Kara chat with Alex, Laurel sitting by her bed, Malcolm and Slade standing guard. When Oliver caught up to the black man, it was out of earshot of everyone. “Thank you for rescuing her,” he told Oliver sincerely.

“I owe her so much,” Oliver nodded. “She once gave me a brief overview of what Cadmus is capable of. We were all too happy to get her out of there.”

“And for that, we are all thankful,” the black man nodded. “And what do you intend to do now that she is back here, safe?”

Oliver raised an eyebrow. “To be blunt, I don’t think she’s safe while Cadmus is still out there,” he remarked. “Certainly not while Lillian Luthor is still alive. Until that woman is dead, or until Cadmus is obliterated, I’m staying right here.”

The man nodded thoughtfully. “We got word of an explosion at the Cadmus base not long before you arrived. I’m assuming that was you?”

“Two of my cohorts,” Oliver nodded. “The warehouse housed all Kryptonite. So we blew it up.”

The man nodded, satisfied. “That won’t end them for good.”

“I know,” Oliver smirked. “But it lets them know there are people they weren’t expecting. And we blew up part of their base. That makes us dangerous.”

“Then I’m glad you’re on our side,” the man nodded, holding out a hand. “J’onn J’onzz. I run the D.E.O.”

“Oliver Queen,” Oliver shook his hand. “With Kara are Slade Wilson, Malcolm Merlyn, and Laurel Lance.”

“The four of you are welcome to stay here at the D.E.O. while you are on this Earth, if you would prefer that,” J’onn told him. He caught Oliver’s quick glance towards Kara and smirked. “Unless you would rather be closer to Kara?”

“I’m worried about her,” Oliver admitted. “She’s been at Cadmus for at least two weeks, and someone would have to be blind to see what they’ve done to her. It’s not just physical damage; it’s mental damage as well. Slade and I have experience in that, and I wouldn’t put it past Malcolm or Laurel to have some remnants as well. We can help her. Whether that means we at least stay in the same building, or one of us stays with her and the others are here, or all four of us stay with her, I think it would be best for her to not be alone.”

“I agree,” J’onn nodded. “I will let the five of you decide what’s best. I should warn you, though – Kara might now consider herself in your debt.”

Oliver couldn’t help it; he snorted loudly. “It was us who owed her. She owes no such thing.”

J’onn smirked. “Good luck telling her that.”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_**  

When Oliver reentered the medbay, it was to see Alex fiddling with the sun lamps and Kara’s head on Laurel’s shoulder. Oliver would have laughed at the surprised look on Laurel’s face, but the metahuman adapted quickly and shifted so Kara could lean on her. “J’onn has offered for us to stay here at the D.E.O.,” he told her, looking at Malcolm and Slade. He noted with a big of smug satisfaction that they hadn’t even budged from their previous positions.

“Kind of him,” Slade nodded before tilting his head. “Is there a problem, little one?”

Alex blinked and looked up when she heard the name. “Little one?”

“Slade nicknamed her when they first met,” Oliver smiled at Kara’s blush. “He still calls me kid.”

“You still act like one sometimes,” Slade countered.

Kara shuffled a bit before sighing. “Are you going to stay here?” she asked.

Oliver folded his arms. “To be honest, I don’t want to let you out of my sight, after what Cadmus did to you,” he told her bluntly. “I told J’onn that I’d prefer to be close to you.” He held up his hand when Kara made to protest. “I know you have superpowers, Kara, you could overpower the four of us, especially is Laurel doesn’t use her scream. But I want to you to be brutally honest with me.” He walked over to look her in the eye. “Is there even a chance that you will have a nightmare? Or a panic attack?” Kara looked down, cheeks flushing in embarrassment, and he shook his head. “That’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Kara. What you’ve gone through is something even the strongest of men could buckle underneath. You prevailed – that shows you’re strong. Even the best of us can be affected by those memories. Which is why I told J’onn at least a few of us could stay with you.”

Kara nodded slowly. “I would feel better with that,” she admitted quietly.

“All the better, if Cadmus does find you and has Kryptonite with them,” Malcolm pointed out. “With those weapons, you’re not invincible. I’ll sleep better knowing you’re safe.”

Kara slumped. “Oh, you’ve hit her weakness,” Alex teased. “The guilt card.”

“Never fails,” Winn agreed as he walked in, a tablet in his hand. “I let James know you’re back.”

Kara slumped. “Thanks, Winn.”

“No problem,” Winn nodded, looking at the four from Earth-1. “I can easily whip up paperwork for the four of you, if you’re going to be staying for a while.”

“Thank you,” Oliver nodded. “That would be helpful.”

“You saved Kara,” Winn said simply. “She’s my best friend. Anything you need my help with, you got it.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” Laurel nodded.

“And the other thing I did . . . ” Winn grinned. “Ordered a dozen pizzas.”

Kara’s eyes lit up. “Oh, you’re a life saver, Winn.”

“Actually, that’s these four,” Winn pointed around at the Earth-1 heroes. “But I’ll take it.”

Oliver smiled fondly as Kara worked to get out of the bed. “Don’t hurt yourself any more, all right?”

“I’m already feeling better,” Kara nodded. “I can eat and not hurt myself.”

“If you’re certain,” Oliver smirked, pulling out his phone. “I need to tell my sister you’re not dead.”

Kara’s good mood faded slightly. “Thank you again,” she told him. “If you hadn’t come – ”

“Don’t think like that,” he told her sharply. Kara gulped and nodded. “You’re safe, and you’re alive,” he told her, more gently this time. “Don’t think on what might have been.” Kara nodded, and he nodded back. “Don’t overeat.”

“I don’t think that’s ever happened,” Alex grinned.

Kara blushed, and Winn laughed. “I haven’t seen it happen!” the computer technician said.

Oliver chuckled and left the medbay, hearing Kara protest to Alex and Winn. Laurel’s laughter joined in not long after. He stopped just outside the window and looked down at his phone, dialing Thea’s number.

* * *

**_Thea Queen_ **

Thea sat at the table in the Arrowcave, one hand pinching the bridge of her nose. All around her, Team Arrow stood speechless. “Kara?” Felicity finally whispered in disbelief, tears in her eyes. “Hurt?” Thea could only nod miserably. “Oh, my God,” the blonde collapsed into her chair.

“I thought she was invincible,” Dig looked between Thea and Quentin.

“On this Earth, maybe,” Quentin shrugged. “On hers? I doubt it.”

“At least he didn’t go alone,” Dinah sighed.

“Laurel didn’t even hesitate,” Quentin nodded.

“Malcolm didn’t, either,” Thea added. “I’m not sure what Ollie said over the phone, but whatever it was, they jumped at the chance to help.”

“So would we,” Rene pointed out.

“But she’s alive?”

Thea turned to look at Samantha, the woman looking out of place among Team Arrow. She was extremely pale, and extremely worried. “When I talked to Ollie, he said Kara was alive,” she sighed. “I hope that means she’ll be OK.”

“Did you call Nyssa?” Dig asked.

“She’s on her way,” Thea nodded.

The trill of her phone broke through the tense atmosphere, and Thea practically pounced on it. “Is that him?” Felicity straightened.

Thea swallowed, seeing the Caller ID. She answered the call and held it to her ear. “Ollie?” she asked hopefully.

“She’s going to be fine,” Oliver told her.

“Oh, thank God,” Thea closed her eyes, slumping in relief.

Dig, too, closed his eyes in relief. Rene let out a small whoop, Dinah grinning. Samantha cracked a small smile, Felicity grinning widely. “Good,” Quentin sighed, leaning on the table. “Good for them.”

“Can I put you on speaker, Ollie?” Thea looked around. “Everyone else here is worried.”

“Go on ahead.” Thea put her phone on the table and made the change. “Kara’s all right, but it was extremely close. We’re lucky we arrived when we did.”

“How badly is she hurt?” Dig asked.

“When we first found her, we couldn’t even tell what color her suit was, she was bleeding so much.” Thea froze as the image seared itself in her head. For there to be _that much blood . . ._ She didn’t fault Samantha for gagging and turning around, her hand in front of her mouth as she, too, pictured it. “When we got back to headquarters, they put her under sun lamps. A yellow sun helps her heal faster. Her sister told me it’s a bit slower because she was harmed by Kryptonite, but she’s healing.”

“Kryptonite?” Rene asked.

“Glowing green rock from Kara’s homeworld, Krypton. It’s the only thing that can hurt her kind.” Oliver paused momentarily, then it sounded like he forced the next words out. “The base we found her at was packed to the _brim_ of it. The lights, bracelets, bullets . . . it was awful.”

Tears were welling in Felicity’s eyes as Oliver described Kara’s prison. Dig stared at one spot at the table, his gaze as hard as stone. Dinah and Rene were exchanging uneasy glances. Thea swallowed. “You’re staying, aren’t you?” she asked quietly.

“I promised I wasn’t going to leave until Cadmus has been destroyed,” Oliver confirmed. “I don’t know when that’ll be.”

“We’ll handle Star City, Hoss,” Rene told him. “You take care of Kara.”

“Kick Cadmus’s ass for us,” Dinah smirked.

“And if you need us to come over, we’ll be there, Oliver,” Dig promised. “We all owe Kara for Lian Yu.”

“I might take you up on that, Dig,” Oliver said. “I think the more Kara realizes we’re on her side, the better.”

“Absolutely,” Felicity nodded vigorously, even though Oliver couldn’t see her. “Tell her we hope she recovers well, OK?”

“Will do. I’ll keep you updated.”

“Oliver?” Samantha said quietly. “Keep her safe.”

“I will.”

He hung up without further ado, and Thea silently ended the call on their end as well. She rubbed her temples, looking over at where their suits were displayed. “I have never felt so ready to put on that suit.”

“How could they _do_ that to her?” Felicity asked in disbelief, still looking stunned by what she had just heard. “I mean, obviously they did, but to _Kara,_ of all people . . . ”

“It’s sick,” Quentin growled low in his throat. “Completely _sick.”_

Samantha swallowed. “I want to be there for her,” she said, blushing when everyone turned to her. “I barely know her, but she saved my son’s life. She saved all of our lives. It would be a small price to pay in response.”

“So we’re all in agreement?” Thea looked up and around. “The moment Ollie says he needs us – or we decide together that we should go – we pack up immediately and go to Earth-38?”

She was answered by determined gazes and nods. For the first time since she had learned why Oliver was going to Earth-38, she smiled.

Cadmus might be prepared to handle a Kryptonian, but she highly doubted they would be ready to take on an overprotective Team Arrow.


	7. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver tells Alex what happened when Kara last visited him, and we get one visitor's opinion about James.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Alex Danvers/Oliver Queen/Kara Danvers_ **

Kara spent two more days under the sun lamps before Alex was comfortable with letting her leave. What surprised Alex repeatedly was that at least one of the Earth-1 vigilantes was constantly watching over her. Alex would have thought that Kara would have had something against being overprotected, but Kara was never without a smile, whether she was chatting with Laurel about her new life on Earth-1 or discussing something in quieter tones with Slade or Malcolm. Lena dropped by when she could as well, speaking with both Kara and Oliver from time to time.

In fact, with the four around, the only time Kara didn’t smile was whenever one of the D.E.O. doctors came near her to check her progress. The smile usually vanished at once, and Kara’s eyes went wider than Alex had ever seen them before. She even tried to squirm away from them sometimes, depending on if they carried anything in their hands or not. And as if silently summoned, Oliver found his way to her side, squeezing her shoulder supportively. If Alex ever looked out of the corner of her eye, she could see Malcolm and Slade watching every move the doctors made. And when the doctors left, Laurel seemed to appear from nowhere to distract Kara with news from National City.

About the third time this routine happened, Alex finally followed Oliver towards the training rooms. He knew she was following him, but she noted he had subtly changed the direction he was heading. Instead of the range J’onn had allowed the two archers to use, he was heading – Alex faltered in her step slightly – towards the training room where Alex and J’onn continued to spar with Kara.

Where the power in the room came from Kryptonite.

Oliver stepped into the room, and Alex walked in behind him. “I’m assuming you have a question?” Oliver raised an eyebrow at her.

“What exactly happened when Kara went to help you?” Alex asked bluntly. “And don’t say she saved every single one of you, I get that. How? What happened?”

Oliver folded his arms, leaning against the wall. “Did Kara ever tell you about a man called Prometheus?”

“No.”

“He was the one that forced my hand enough to make me ask Kara for help,” Oliver said bluntly. “Kara was the _last_ person on my mind to ask. I didn’t even _think_ of her before Cisco said there was no one else on my Earth that I could have contacted. When I first met her, I didn’t trust her one bit. At the time, the strangest person I ever met was Barry, the fastest man alive. And then, when the Dominators invaded, here came Barry with this blonde cheerleader with an S on her chest and an innocent smile. I proceeded to watch her plow through the best of vigilantes and metahumans as if we were in beginning self defense class. Your sister unnerved me, and I told her I don’t get unnerved. Barry told me he didn’t know she could get angry, and I did that when I tried to put her on the sidelines because she completely overwhelmed me. And then she saved my life fighting the Dominators. She probably still didn’t like me at the time, and she saved me anyway.”

“That’s my sister,” Alex’s lips curled into a smile. “She thinks everyone deserves a chance no matter who they are.”

“And when I apologized to her when it was all said and done, she told me hardships make us stronger,” Oliver nodded. “I’d been through several hardships, but there were none that made me really think about those words until Prometheus took my team, my sister, and my son.”

“What?” Alex’s eyes widened.

“He made me _extremely_ desperate,” Oliver nodded grimly. “Desperate enough that the first people I reached out to were former enemies. In fact, one of them came to me first, after he learned his daughter had been taken.”

Alex did a double take. “Malcolm?” she asked in surprise.

“Thea and I are half-siblings, which all three of us only discovered a few years ago,” Oliver nodded. “My first year when I became a vigilante, Malcolm was my main enemy. He was also one of two enemies that had a lasting impact on my career as a vigilante. And it’s partly because of Malcolm I became one, too. He was the one who orchestrated the sinking of my father’s yacht, leading to his death and to me being stranded on Lian Yu. Malcolm’s son, and my best friend, was killed during his Undertaking, and I swore I wouldn’t kill while I was a vigilante because of Tommy. I hated Malcolm’s guts for so long, and there were probably times when I wouldn’t stop someone from killing him, but Malcolm came through when I needed him to. He put Thea’s life before his on the island, and they’ve been working on their relationship since.” He took in Alex’s stunned look before continuing. “I spent five years on that island before returning to my city. Slade was with me for the first two of those years. The first year and a half, he was like my brother. He taught me to fight. He helped me learn how to survive. The last half of the second year, he was my enemy. The woman he loved was killed, partly because of a decision I made, and he put the entirety of the blame on me. A serum to heal him didn’t help much other than that. He was driven by the need for vengeance, and it led him to my city my second year back from the island. Alex, he killed my _mother_ in front of me. And I still gave him the cure for the serum because I couldn’t kill him. He was, at one point, my brother. I didn’t know if there was a way to bring him back from the brink, but I couldn’t kill him. Three years after the cure was administered, Slade was back to himself, and he proved it. Never once did he betray me. Never once did he turn his back on us.” Alex had slid down the wall to sit down on the floor as she listened, her face pale. “And Laurel,” Oliver sat down across from her. “She didn’t always call herself Laurel Lance. In fact, she’s not even the Laurel Lance of Earth-1. The Laurel Lance I knew, the Laurel Lance I grew up with, was murdered by a man named Damien Darhk. She was called the Black Canary. The Laurel who came here is known as Black Siren, and that’s what we called her until Lian Yu. She came from Earth-2 with an enemy speedster named Zoom, and she was held in S.T.A.R. Labs until Prometheus released her to try and impersonate our Laurel. We recaptured her and placed her in custody of a government organization on our Earth, except Prometheus freed her again. She allied herself with Prometheus on Lian Yu. She probably would have been imprisoned again, had she not taken your sister’s advice and given me vital information about where my son was being held.” He leaned forward. “Three people who used to be my enemies. What do all three of them have in common?”

“The island,” Alex answered. “Lian Yu.”

“And in turn, Kara,” Oliver nodded. “If it wasn’t for Kara, Malcolm wouldn’t have made it to the end at all. He stepped on a landmine to save Thea; Kara flew him away from the landmine before he could be blown up. To this day, I have no idea what Kara said to Slade before we rescued half of my team, but whatever she said stuck, because Slade kept his word the entire time. Even gave her a nickname, too,” he cracked a grin. “That’s when you know you’ve really earned Slade’s trust, when he gives you a nickname.”

“He still calls you kid,” Alex recalled.

“Yeah, and he calls her little one,” Oliver chuckled. “And yet, she could snap him like a twig if he pissed her off.” Alex smiled at that, and Oliver waved a hand. “And Kara helped Laurel after the final fight against Prometheus. She told us where my son was located, and Kara flew off as fast as she could. And she got to him before Prometheus did, too. Except there was one problem.” He looked Alex in the eye. “I assume you know what a dead man’s switch is?”

“Something is triggered when someone dies,” Alex nodded, and she froze. “No.”

“Prometheus had bombs planted all over Lian Yu,” Oliver nodded. “Kara, William, and I were off the island, but Slade, Malcolm, Laurel, Thea, and the rest of my team were still trapped. Prometheus pulled a gun on himself. I couldn’t have stopped him if I tried. Kara did. She forced him to shoot in a different direction, and punched him until he wouldn’t wake up for a while.” Alex’s eyes were wide open, and Oliver leaned forward. “My entire team owes Kara their lives,” he told her seriously. “But it’s much more personal for the three I brought with me. They have another chance to live their lives a new way because of Kara. They all agreed to come the very second I told them I was coming to check on her. And whether we can help her by talking to her or supporting her or destroying Cadmus completely, we will do it.”

“She never told me any of that,” Alex whispered.

“Did you expect her to?” Oliver raised an eyebrow.

“I shouldn’t have,” Alex admitted. “It didn’t happen on our Earth, I had no idea who any of you were, so I probably wouldn’t have understood half of it.” She looked up at him. “But I can thank you for your dedication to making sure she isn’t hurt again,” she smiled. That smile quickly faded as she pointed at him. “And if you so much as even risk betraying the trust she has in you – ”

“The I hurt her, you hurt me spiel?” Oliver couldn’t help but grin. “I’m not her boyfriend, Alex.”

“Aside from J’onn, I think you’re the one guy she trusts the most here.”

“There’s Winn.”

“Yeah, but he’s like her little brother. And no offense to Slade or Malcolm, but I can’t see Kara with them.”

Oliver snorted loudly. “I won’t tell them if you won’t.”

“Deal,” Alex snickered.

“On the topic of hurting Kara,” Oliver’s face turned serious. “Why the _hell_ do you have a room powered by Kryptonite here?”

Alex cringed. “It’s to help train to fight,” she answered. “When she put on the suit, she had no experience fighting. Barely knew how to throw a punch. The only strength she had at the time was just that – her strength. We knew Kryptonite existed, knew there was a chance that somewhere out there, someone could have some. And what if they used it against Kara when she was untrained?”

“OK, I see your point there,” Oliver conceded.

“And we never used it to the point Cadmus did,” Alex added.

“Good,” Oliver sighed. “That was my concern.”

“I would never forgive J’onn if he did that to her,” Alex stood and started pacing. “And to be honest, I don’t think the D.E.O. would survive that long if Clark knew – ” She froze. “Oh, God, _Clark.”_

“Who?” Oliver blinked in confusion.

“Clark,” Alex sighed, pulling out her phone. “Kara’s cousin. I don’t even know if anyone’s told him she’s been rescued. You’ll probably be high on his list of good guys when he finds out what you did,” she added.

Oliver grimaced. “That had to be hard for him.”

“Oh, he complained quite frequently that we weren’t saving her,” Alex nodded. “But he couldn’t do anything.”

“Because of Kryptonite,” Oliver nodded, frowning at the green lights in the room. “You know, when Kara told me she had a weakness, I didn’t know it could be this extreme.”

Alex paused at the doorway before grinning. “You’re sure you’re not her boyfriend?” she teased. “You’re concerned enough to be.”

Oliver glared at her, making her laugh as she left. “As bad as Thea,” he grumbled, walking out after her.

Slade was standing there waiting for him. “Kara got her phone back,” he told him as they walked back towards the main hub of the D.E.O. “First thing she did was tell that cousin of hers she’s all right.” He grinned. “It was entertaining to hear him yell at J’onn when Kara gave him the phone. Martian looked like he swallowed the most sour lemon ever.”

“I wouldn’t want to be the wrong end of a Kryptonian’s yelling,” Oliver admitted.

“And another guy showed up,” Slade added. “Man named Jason Olsen.”

“James,” Winn corrected from where he sat by his computer.

“I said that, didn’t I?” Slade blinked. Winn opened his mouth, then apparently thought better of it and went back to work. “Like I said,” Slade smirked smugly.

“You don’t think very highly of him,” Oliver stated.

“No,” Slade answered bluntly.

Oliver shook his head with a sigh. “I remember hearing Barry ask Kara about Winn and a man named James back when the Dominators invaded. He’s a friend of Kara’s, Slade. He’s probably fine.”

“Yes, I think that’s what Kara is currently trying to convince the Magician of,” Slade snorted.

Oliver rolled his eyes and entered the medbay – sure enough, there was Kara speaking to Malcolm about her time at CatCo, Laurel watching with amusement. “I feel like putting a label on Malcolm that says ‘overprotective,’” she joked to Oliver.

“Make one for Slade, too, in that case,” Oliver said with a straight face.

“I swear to God, kid,” Slade growled warningly.

“Oh, he’s a vigilante, too?” Malcolm suddenly asked in genuine surprise.

That caught the three others’ attention. “James?” Oliver asked, walking over.

“Yeah,” Kara sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I spoke up against it, thank you very much. But he was insistent that it was his way to be a better person and help others.”

That even had Laurel rolling her eyes at the statement. “There are more ways to help others than risking your life every night,” she remarked.

“Yeah,” Kara closed her eyes. “I tried telling him that, too.”

“Now I’m more interested in meeting this guy,” Oliver frowned. “And then when he’s a vigilante.”

“Green Arrow meets Guardian,” Kara mused. “I’d cover that story.” At three-fourths of the group’s confused looks, she elaborated. “I’m a reporter where I work.” She paused, eyes widening in horror. “And Snapper might actually kill me when I get there tomorrow.”

“Actually, that won’t be a problem,” Lena’s voice came from behind the others, making them turn. “Hey, guys,” she added with a smile.

“Hi, Lena,” Kara sat up straighter. “What’s going on?”

“I told your boss,” she answered, walking in. “Not that you’re Supergirl,” she hastened to say when Kara blanched and the four vigilantes narrowed their eyes. “I told him about your connection to Supergirl got you captured by my mother. He grumbled something along the lines of ‘of course Ponytail did,’ but he seemed to accept it.”

“Oh, good,” Kara slumped. “That’s a relief.”

“And Cat seemed very relieved to know you’re alive,” Lena added. When Kara looked at her dubiously, Lena rolled her eyes. “In her very Cat Grant way, at least.”

“Well,” Kara seemed much more relaxed than before, “guess I’m back to work tomorrow.”

“And while you’re there, we can start digging more into Cadmus,” Oliver nodded.

“Thank you for what you did, Lena,” Kara added with a smile.

“Of course,” Lena smiled, giving her a hug. “And it’s good to see people are finally starting to take my mother seriously.”

“Trust me,” Oliver’s eyes darkened. “Your mother won’t like what happens when my team gets to her.”

Kara silently commended Lena for not giving Oliver a reaction to what he just said.


	8. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara returns to CatCo, gets in touch with another Earth-1 hero, and finds herself in trouble . . . again. Luckily, this time, she's not by herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Kara Danvers_ **

Kara was greeted with smiles and well wishes when she made it to the top floor of CatCo the next morning. She smiled and made sure to tell everyone she was fine before she steeled herself and headed for Cat’s office.

She was speaking with James about something when she made it, but she immediately looked up when she heard Kara enter. “Kiera,” she straightened, making James turn. “I was beginning to wonder if you would ever show up for work.”

“I’m so sorry, Ms. Grant,” Kara winced, adjusting her glasses. “But Cadmus was a menace.”

Cat gave her a long look. “As I am well aware.” Kara winced at that, and Cat sighed. “But it _is_ good to see you back,” she said sincerely.

Kara blinked in surprise. “Thank you, Ms. Grant.”

Cat nodded, then waved her off. “Now, shoo. I can’t hold off Snapper forever.”

Kara nodded and left her office, heading for the reporters’ division. “Hey,” James jogged up to her.

“Hey, James,” Kara smiled wearily at him.

“Did the D.E.O. really clear you that quickly?”

“Alex did,” Kara said simply.

James conceded the point. Alex usually had the last say on when Kara was free to leave after a potential Kara dying scenario. “Well, it’s good to see you back,” he smiled genuinely at her.

“Thank you,” Kara smiled back before walking into her part of the office, bracing herself for a rant from Snapper.

* * *

**_Kara Danvers_ **

If Snapper Carr sentencing her to desk duty for two weeks because one of her stories “nearly got one of his reporters killed” was the one bad thing that happened to her for the day, that was fine with Kara. She used her time to catch up on what had happened around National City through the eyes of CatCo.

So far, Cat had no plans on leaving on another sabbatical and was staying in National City. That was a relief to Kara. The media mogul was an inspiration not only to Kara as just Kara, but also to Supergirl. It had been a huge relief to her when Cat had returned when Rhea invaded, and the fact that she had stayed afterwards had made her get her hopes up. And now, seeing it in writing in front of her that Cat had no intentions of leaving again was the icing on the cake. Maybe when they finally brought down Lillian Luthor, Kara could give her to Cat for a scathing shut down.

As Kara moved on to learning more about L-Corp, she paused, realizing she had thought _when_ this time, in regards to bringing Cadmus down. For so long, after learning Cadmus had supplies of Kryptonite and was perfectly capable of using fire to bring down J’onn, she had started to worry about if Cadmus could truly be destroyed.

And in less than an hour, three vigilantes and a screaming metahuman from a different universe had not only rescued her, but had also blown up part of Cadmus’s stock of Kryptonite. Alone, with less than twenty-four hours to prepare, with only Lena to guide them to where they were. And when the rest of the team arrived . . . oh, Kara was going to _love_ watching Lillian’s reaction to all of Team Arrow unleashing hell.

And speaking of Team Arrow . . .

Kara pulled out her cell phone, scrolling through contacts, before finally choosing one. She put the phone to her ear, waiting patiently. A moment later, a bored voice came through. “Thea Queen speaking.”

“How many times have you said that today?” Kara couldn’t help but laugh.

 _“Oh,_ my – ” She heard a few muttered voices before Thea hissed into the phone. “You do _not_ get to scare us like that again!”

“Sorry?” Kara offered sheepishly, hiding a smile behind her hand.

“You better be sorry! My brother worried his ass off about you!” She heard the telltale sound of a door closing. “Seriously, though, are you OK?”

“As good as I can be,” Kara looked around. “Constantly looking over my shoulder now, but that’s better than being caught off guard again.”

“Absolutely,” Thea agreed wholeheartedly. “Now you know how Ollie manages to stay alive.” She paused. “And speaking of my brother . . . ”

“What?” Kara blinked, straightening. “Nothing’s going on back there, is there?”

“No. Well, besides the duties of mayor he’s left Quentin? Because that’s a villain in its own right.” Kara snickered, then Thea turned more serious. “No, nothing’s wrong. But do you have any idea how quick Oliver was to put everything to the side to ensure you were OK? The moment you stopped having your regular chats, he started worrying, and it showed. Is he doing OK?”

“He’s fine,” Kara nodded. “Although, that’s partly because he’s laser focused on completely destroying these guys.”

“And that’ll be his outlet for no doubt all the pent-up feelings he’s got,” Thea sighed. “Just keep telling Oliver you’re fine, and make sure he waits until we’re all there to drive Cadmus into the ground, all right?” Kara opened her mouth to respond when Thea spoke again. “And my dad. And Slade. And Laurel. You know what, just make sure they don’t do anything stupid.”

“Will do,” Kara chuckled. “I’ll see if I can check in with Felicity later.”

“Please do. She hasn’t even gotten there yet, and she’s already plotting the best way to hack into Cadmus and release all their secrets to the world.”

“You should see her go at it. It’s really entertaining sometimes, actually.

“And, uh . . . ” Kara winced. “She’s not upset that Oliver’s over here?”

“Of course not,” Thea sounded surprised at the very idea. “In fact, she was one of the first ones who immediately agreed to go over to your Earth when Dig suggested it.”

“No, I mean . . . ” Kara scratched behind her ear. “Aren’t they . . . together?”

“Oh!” Thea laughed. “No, Kara, they not. They tried, for about a month or so after Lian Yu, but they broke it off. It was much less painful to be around this time, too.” She stage-whispered the next line. “To be honest, most of us are rooting for you and Ollie.”

“Thea!” Kara protested, eyes wide, hearing Thea laughing over the phone. “Really?”

“Believe me, with Ollie’s track record, I think you would be the best girl who ever happened to him,” Thea told her, sounding completely serious.

“ . . . thank you?” Kara asked hesitantly.

“No, Ollie would tell you the same thing.”

“That’s not exactly what a girl wants to hear.”

Kara heard Thea sigh. “My point, Kara, is that my brother has never had the best luck with relationships. Either they turn out to be psychopaths, or they keep getting hurt because of his ventures as a vigilante, or they didn’t even _know_ he was a vigilante, all of which ended up being relationship enders. You are not a psychopath, I doubt _any_ criminal in Star City could even scratch you, and you definitely know my brother’s night job. You’re also probably the only reporter I like. All things considered, you’re perfect for Ollie.”

Kara was blushing by the time Thea was done. “Are you _seriously_ trying to set me up with Oliver?”

Thea didn’t even try to deny it. “Why not?”

“Oh, my God,” Kara put her face in her hand, absolutely certain her face was burning red. “Thea!”

“Hey, a girl can try,” Thea defended herself, Kara hearing a distant ping as the elevator doors opened. “After everything Ollie’s been through, the least that can happen to him is he gets a good life – and a good girl to go with. Same with you, Kara. Honestly, if that means it’s the two of you, at least I know Ollie’s in good hands.”

Kara tilted her head, trying to think of something to say to that. “Thanks?” she finally settled on.

“You’re welcome,” Thea said cheerfully, Kara unable to keep from smiling. “Now, you focus on stopping my brother from massacring Cadmus before we all get there.”

“I’ll try,” Kara giggled. “Bye, Thea.”

“Bye, Kara.”

“Is she OK?”

Kara yelped and dropped her phone, spinning around in her chair, to find Malcolm standing there expectantly. “Malcolm!”

The assassin snickered, bending down to get her phone for her, dressed to the nines in a suit Kara would bet Lena had paid for. She and Winn had combined duties – Winn was the one working on identities for the quartet in their world, and Lena was covering expenses for anything they needed. Which, at the moment, seemed to be clothing. “Good to see you, too,” he handed her phone over. He was wearing leather gloves, Kara noticed, hiding his cybernetic hand, and under the overcoat he wore, she bet he had some sort of weapons on him. More than likely knives, if she knew the Dark Archer. “Lena mentioned your break was coming up soon?”

“Uh . . . yeah,” Kara checked the time. Was it really past noon already? “I get out in about ten minutes or so.”

“Good. Lunch is on me.”

“What?” Kara blinked at him.

“Yes,” he nodded.

“No!” she shook her head. “You guys saved my life, I can pay for lunch – ”

“Yeah, the four of us came to a mutual agreement that if you said that, we’re all going out,” Malcolm smirked. “And what a group the five of us would make walking around National City.”

Kara blushed. “Fine,” she mumbled, starting to save her work and shut down her computer. “Not that it’s wonderful to see you, but – ”

“Why me?” Malcolm guessed. When Kara nodded, Malcolm leaned against the wall casually and thought out loud. “Well, for starters, Slade would probably scare the hell out of people. Oliver’s caught up with J’onn planning on how to take everyone out. And also Slade really wants to keep annoying that guy – ” He jerked his head behind him. “For some unknown reason.” Kara peered past Malcolm to see James in his office, frowning in their direction. “So he decided the best way to do that would be if I came and not Laurel.” Kara guffawed and quickly put a hand over her mouth, Malcolm shrugging. “And I’d have probably fit in better around this kind of environment anyway.”

“Probably,” Kara conceded, still giggling a bit as she bent down to pack her purse. “What does Slade have against James?”

“I don’t know, really,” Malcolm turned again to consider the man, James scowling a bit, annoyed he’d been seen. “Doesn’t look that threatening to me.”

“Well, don’t tell him that,” Kara snorted, standing up and slinging her purse onto her arm. “Let’s go, shall we?”

Malcolm offered his arm, with Kara took with a smile. They were passing Cat’s office when she looked over her laptop, saw Kara leaving, and frowned. “Kiera!”

Kara stopped, closing her eyes, and Malcolm smirked in amusement. “Boss?” he guessed.

“Yes,” Kara sighed, turning around. “Yes, Ms. Grant?” she asked with a smile.

“I thought you would want to know, I just received a curious e-mail from your friend,” Cat stood up, walking around her desk to a printer nearby. She took the flyer that finished printing and walked over, handing it to her. “I thought you might want to see it before the news demolishes it.”

Kara took the flyer and looked it over, her eyes widening immediately when she saw L-Corp – which meant Lena – was hosting a charity event to put aliens in a better light, and specifically to send a positive message to Supergirl that they hoped for her return soon. “Oh, my God,” Kara put a hand over her mouth, Malcolm moving to her side instantly to see what it was.

“Good to know Miss Luthor isn’t like her mother,” Malcolm remarked.

“You, Mr. Olsen, and I were the only ones from CatCo invited to attend,” Cat told Kara. “As such, if there is . . . someone,” she eyed Malcolm, “you would like to bring with you, I doubt Lena Luthor would protest.”

“Oh, no,” Kara shook her head, even Malcolm’s eyebrows shooting up at the subtle hint. “No, we’re not together.”

“No,” Malcolm agreed.

“We, uh . . . ” She took a look around before taking a deep breath. “He was one of the people who helped me escape Cadmus.”

Cat blinked, then gave Malcolm a small smile. “Thank you for that, Mr. . . . ?”

“Merlyn,” Malcolm answered, holding out his hand. “Malcolm Merlyn.”

“Thank you for your help, Mr. Merlyn,” Cat nodded, Kara looking over her shoulder to see James had come back out of his office, and by the look on his face, he had just filed away that name to do a cross check. Kara just barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Overprotective much? “It would have been devastating to lose Kiera just after Snapper just started tolerating her.”

Kara snorted, quickly clapping a hand over her mouth. “Yes, she does make things difficult sometimes, doesn’t she?” Malcolm snarked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“I hate you,” she grumbled.

“No, you don’t,” Malcolm smirked.

“Well, I won’t keep you any longer, Kiera,” Cat waved a hand dismissively, turning back to go to her desk. “Go and chat with whatever other heroes helped save you or whatever you’re doing.”

“Thank you, Ms. Grant,” Kara smiled, folding the flyer up and slipping it into her purse, she and Malcolm walking out of the office.

“Kiera?” Malcolm couldn’t help but grin. “Yeah,” Kara sighed. “I’ve gotten used to it.”

“I thought I heard Ms. Grant say my name?” James asked as they approached.

“Um, yeah,” Kara nodded, shifting slightly. “Lena’s hosting an event to support aliens, specifically Supergirl. She’s invited you, me, and Ms. Grant to come.”

“Oh, good,” James nodded before his gaze slid to Malcolm. “New friend, Kara?”

“Got a problem with that?” Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, my – ” Kara groaned slightly and gestured between the two of them. “James Olsen, Malcolm Merlyn.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Malcolm extended a hand.

James nodded curtly and shook it. “Likewise.”

Kara watched them both squeeze, saw James give first with a slight wince. Malcolm had barely flinched. “It’s my break, James, we’re heading out,” Kara told him as Malcolm released James’s hand, a small smirk on the assassin’s face. “If you have any questions, I’m sure Winn wouldn’t object to sharing more.”

James could only watch as Kara led Malcolm to the elevators.

* * *

_**Malcolm Merlyn** _

Malcolm raised an eyebrow as Kara led him right to the alien bar she and her team frequently visited. “Not bad.”

“Thanks,” Kara smiled as she sat down in one of the booths against the wall, Malcolm sitting across from her. “My friends and I are here often.” She giggled. “It was actually where we hid for a while when – ”

She cut off, her face twisting slightly, and Malcolm nodded slowly. “Daxamites?” he guessed softly.

“Yeah,” she sighed, putting her chin in her hand.

Malcolm shook his head. “I wish I could tell you it gets easier as time goes on,” he told her. “But I can’t.”

Kara frowned at him. “You’re cheery.”

“I’m being realistic,” Malcolm corrected. “Wouldn’t you rather that than false hope?”

Kara pouted at him. “You’re no fun.”

Malcolm raised an eyebrow. “I could ditch you.”

“Nah,” Kara shook her head, Malcolm narrowing his eyes when he saw she looked slightly paler than she had a few minutes ago. “That would be worse.”

“Then don’t call me a killjoy,” Malcolm said dryly, taking another look around where they were. Two obvious exits, except one was behind the bar, which they couldn’t reach without making a scene. That only left the front door.

Which had shut after they entered.

Slowly, Malcolm turned back around. “I’m gonna go get a drink,” he told her. “Stay here.”

Something in his voice must have tipped Kara off, as she froze, her eyes flicking about. Finally, she nodded, and Malcolm headed towards the bar. As he did, he took notice of who was around. There was a dark-skinned woman working at the bar now, in an off-the-shoulder top. He caught sight of another woman in black – no, _alien,_ he realized when he saw the markings on her face, her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. There were a few other aliens he could see, along with humans.

And if he tilted his head just right, he could see flashes of green underneath the jackets they wore.

Malcolm turned back around to the bar, the woman behind it stopping in front of him. “What can I get you?” she smiled.

“Not a drink,” Malcolm answered, tilting his head towards the group of humans crowding by the pool tables . . . which, now that he took another look, were both with a clear path to the door . . . and to Kara.

“Never seen them before,” the woman behind the bar answered, frowning at him. “Why?”

Malcolm looked behind him to see Kara now looking clammy. “Because they’re not here to be nice,” he answered, checking towards the humans again, some of them starting to walk towards Kara. He was walking back that way immediately, Kara’s head raising when she saw him.

That was when the first human drew something from under his jacket. “Down!” he snapped, reaching under his own suit jacket. “Kara, _get down!”_

Kara flung herself under the booth, the human who had approached her spinning to Malcolm. Before he even saw the glowing green blade emerge, Malcolm had thrown two of his own knives. Both landed in the man’s chest with meaty thwack, the force of the hits making him stagger back into his comrades before he collapsed.

That gave Malcolm all the time he needed to launch himself over one of the tables in the center of the bar and propel himself into the Cadmus group, landing himself among them. The guns that had come out were now wavering, in fear of hitting their comrades.

Some of the stronger aliens, recognizing they were Cadmus, started fighting them as Malcolm tossed every Kryptonite blade he saw away, over the bar, as far away from Kara as possible. The blonde alien, he noted, had catapulted into the fray, snarling wildly and attacking with inhuman strength. The woman behind the bar was also gone.

And then through the roof came what could only be a Martian, clad in red and black armor, her eyes glaring at the Cadmus agents. “You are not welcome here,” she snarled.

Apparently, the Cadmus agents thought the Martian was now a greater threat. Malcolm took advantage of that, spinning around and neatly slicing one’s throat, stepping away from the blood gushing from cut arteries, looking around for Kara at the same time. She was huddled under the booth, looking drained, barely able to keep her eyes open. Malcolm seethed, closing his eyes.

In the next moment, he whirled into action, a knife in each hand, not hesitating to kill the Cadmus agents he could. The blonde alien, he noticed, took his lead, growling and snapping necks. The Martian was mainly aiming to incapacitate. Malcolm by far was shedding the most blood, alternating between jabs in the throat and the heart.

 When the last body hit the ground, Malcolm didn’t check to see if he was dead or not. He just ran right to Kara’s side, seeing the girl limp on the ground, breathing shallowly. “Kara,” he pulled her into his lap, checking her pulse, feeling it stronger than it had been when they had rescued her from Cadmus, but it was still much fainter than it should have been. “Come on,” he ground his teeth, holding her close as the two female aliens moved to see what happened.

The door to the bar banged open, and Malcolm snarled, twisting so his body guarded Kara from view. The blonde alien hissed and moved to a crouch, the Martian narrowing her eyes.

But it was another Martian that led the way in, his eyes immediately locking on the fallen agents. Alex and Maggie were behind him, guns at the ready. Behind them came Oliver, Slade, and Laurel in full vigilante attire.

“Oh, my God,” Maggie whispered.

“M’gann?” J’onn asked, shifting back to human form.

“J’onn,” the female Martian relaxed, shifting back into the woman that had been behind the bar. “If I had known – ”

“Oh, my God,” Alex nearly dropped her gun when she saw M’gann shift away, Malcolm standing and pulling Kara into his arms bridal style. “Not again!”

“Again,” Malcolm said darkly as Alex sprinted to his side to check Kara’s vitals, Laurel running over as well. He looked past them to see Slade growling at the downed Cadmus agents, checking them for any more Kryptonite. His ice blue eyes met Oliver’s furious green ones, and his next words were said in such a snarl, even J’onn recoiled slightly.

“Get the others here. _Now.”_


	9. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The D.E.O. gets more crowded as more guests arrive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Oliver Queen_ **

“Hey, guys,” Winn smiled when he heard the sound of feet reentering headquarters, starting to turn in his chair. “How did the – _oh, my God,”_ he shot out of his chair, eyes wide as J’onn and M’gann ran in first, in full Martian mode.

“Get sun lamps powering up, now,” J’onn ordered, shifting back into human form, revealing the four vigilantes handling an unconscious Kara with Alex, Maggie, and Lyra behind them.

“Lyra!” Winn ran to give her a hug.

“Winn,” Lyra hugged him tightly.

“What happened?” Winn asked in concern as they went to join where the others were in the medbay.

“What happened is that Cadmus just signed their death certificate,” Oliver growled, helping Malcolm lay Kara down on the same bed she’d been in only the day before, Alex and Slade rolling up sun lamps. When that was done, Alex powering the lamps up, Oliver walked back only a few steps, still within reaching distance of Kara, pulling out his phone. “It’s about to get a lot more crowded here,” he warned J’onn.

“If it takes Cadmus down, bring them,” he answered, gesturing to Kara. “An attack on her when she isn’t Supergirl? This is something I won’t let slide.”

Oliver nodded in satisfaction, dialing Cisco’s number. The metahuman answered on the first ring. “Oliver!” he greeted worriedly. “Please tell me Kara’s OK?”

“A second time, Cisco,” Oliver growled. “She was attacked a _second time,_ broad daylight, as Kara Danvers, _not_ as Supergirl.”

“Oh, my God,” Cisco whispered in disbelief.

“I need you to get to Star City and get my team here, _now.”_

“I’m on my way now, man. And if you need Wally and I to help you out at any point, just say the word, we’re there. Barry – ” Cisco cut off  for a moment. “Barry would want us to help her, too.”

“Thank you, Cisco,” Oliver said gratefully, tensing when he heard running behind him. “Get them here as soon as you can.”

“Opening the breach to Star City now.”

Oliver hung up and turned to see Lena run in, eyes wide. “What happened?” she demanded, looking towards the medbay.

“Your mother decided attacking her as Supergirl wasn’t going to work, so they went after her as Kara Danvers instead,” Oliver answered, not sugar coating at all as he walked over. “Complete with any kind of Kryptonite weapon they had.”

“Oh, my God,” Lena put a hand over her mouth. “Is she going to be all right?” the black man with Lena asked in concern.

“She better be, or there’s going to be nothing left of Cadmus when I’m through with them,” Oliver growled.

“I don’t think you’ll be alone in that,” Lena watched Malcolm and Slade circle Kara’s bed like protective wolves, Laurel pacing back and forth anxiously.

“Malcolm was there with her,” Oliver nodded. “If he hadn’t figured it out, Kara would be dead.” He paused, then frowned at the black man when he started in recognition. “Who’re you?”

“James Olsen,” he answered. “I work with Kara at CatCo. She spoke to me just before she left. The man, Malcolm, he was with her.”

“We decided one of us should go on break with her, just in case Cadmus tried something stupid,” Oliver nodded. “Malcolm was who we decided on.” “Hey, man,” Winn walked up to James, Lyra with him. “Good to see you.”

“You, too, man,” James smiled.

“Oh, Oliver, this is my girlfriend, Lyra,” Winn gestured to the alien. “She helped Malcolm when Cadmus attacked.”

“Thank you,” Oliver told her sincerely. “Malcolm told me you were a big help.”

“I hate Cadmus,” she said simply, narrowing her eyes. “I would have helped take them out any day.”

“I’ve never seen any of you around the D.E.O. before,” James turned to Oliver.

Before Oliver could say anything, Winn grinned. “Oh, they came to free Kara the first time she was captured,” he told James, Oliver pinching the bridge of his nose, Lena smiling sympathetically at him. “Lena helped them. They even managed to blow part of their base up!”

“It was a Kryptonite storage facility,” Oliver said dryly. “I don’t think anyone was even in there at the time.”

“Nope, there wasn’t,” Laurel walked up, folding her arms. “Because Malcolm and I killed anyone who tried to enter.” She smiled coldly at James. “And we were more than happy to do that considering what they did to her.”

“How is she?” Oliver asked.

“She’s doing better,” Laurel answered. “Malcolm and Slade aren’t going to leave her alone any time soon, though.”

“No, I’m not, either,” Oliver looked back at the medbay. Kara was already looking better, despite not waking up yet. Malcolm had pulled up a chair close to her, in quiet discussion with Alex. Slade was still glaring at anyone who tried to come closer. “How long has Cadmus been an issue?” he turned to the others.

“They first made a big appearance last year,” Winn answered. “They resurrected a man who tried to kill Lena with Kryptonite, made him into a cyborg and sent him after Kara and her cousin. Few weeks later, they supplied weapons to a criminal group that affected Kara. They weren’t Kryptonite, but they could hurt her. And then they actually kidnapped her and, uh . . . ” He, James, and Lena exchanged glances. “They kidnapped her and Mon-El,” Winn finally said. “They took Kara’s blood to break into her cousin’s fortress and steal a virus that could kill all aliens on Earth.”

“Fortunately, I was able to switch out a key component of the virus, rendering it useless,” Lena told Oliver. “And I called the police to arrest my mother that day, too.”

“That didn’t stick, unfortunately,” James grumbled.

“That wasn’t _my_ fault,” Lena glared at him. “I hate her, too, remember?”

Before anyone could respond, there was a hissing noise, and they turned as one of Cisco’s breaches appeared in the briefing room. “Wait!” Oliver shouted when D.E.O. soldiers started aiming at the breach, including Alex and Maggie. “Wait!”

“Wait!” J’onn took up the call.

Cisco jumped out of the breach, quickly raising his hands. “I come in peace?” he offered, looking around.

“Cisco,” Oliver jogged over, J’onn behind him, Alex slowly lowering her gun. “Any trouble?”

“None,” Cisco shook his head, taking off his glasses. “In fact, it was quite a scramble to get here. Your sister nearly throttled me when I said I was coming to make sure I came to the right place before I sent everyone through.” He perked up and extended his hand to J’onn when he joined them. “J’onn.”

“Cisco,” J’onn nodded, shaking his hand. “Thank you for bringing Oliver and the others here.”

“I think it would be a death sentence to argue with Oliver when he’s this determined,” Cisco gave him a look. “Besides, it’s Kara.”

J’onn smirked. “Yes, it is.”

“Bring them through, Cisco,” Oliver ordered.

“You got it,” Cisco nodded, rubbing his hands together. “And remember, S.T.A.R. Labs is on call if you need some more metahuman help.”

Oliver nodded, and Cisco jumped back through the breach. “We should probably stand back,” he warned J’onn dryly.

They had barely taken a few steps back before the breach flared and deposited a short-haired brunette that looked like she had just come from a high-paying job and was ready to go on a warpath. “Where is she?” Thea demanded, ignoring her surroundings and marching right up to Oliver. “What happened? Oh, my God, please tell me she’s OK!”

“Thea, she’s fine,” Oliver put his hands on her shoulders, J’onn waving for the D.E.O. to lower all their weapons. “Malcolm made sure no Kryptonite touched her. There was enough that it knocked her out, but that’s it.”

“It’s still unacceptable,” Thea grumbled, adjusting the bag she had over her shoulder.

“Hey, man,” Dig was the next through the breach, a concerned look on his face. “As soon as Cisco came, we started packing.”

“I heard,” Oliver nodded, giving him a hug.

“Attacked as Kara? Not Supergirl?” When Oliver darkened and nodded, Dig whistled, a stormy look forming on Thea’s face. “Man, they really do want to piss you off, don’t they?”

Oliver just smirked. “I’m guessing the four of us aren’t the only ones they pissed off, though.”

“Hell, no,” Quentin said as he came through the breach, Felicity with him. “They did that quite well to all of us, and we haven’t even met them!”

“But she’s OK?” Felicity looked around, concern on her face.

“She’s fine,” Oliver nodded. “As fine as she can be, while she’s under sun lamps.”

“Oh, good,” Felicity slumped in relief, Thea relaxing slightly.

Three more people came through the breach. One Oliver had been expecting; the other two, on the other hand – “Samantha?” he walked over in concern. “William? What’re you doing here?”

“Save it, Oliver,” Samantha gave him a look, her hand on William’s back. “We’re here to support her, OK?”

Oliver closed his eyes. “This isn’t going to be pretty,” he warned.

“Lian Yu didn’t end up being paradise, either,” Samantha pointed out.

“Is she OK?” William asked.

Oliver sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He knew that this could possibly end badly, but they did owe Kara their lives, too. “Support only,” he told Samantha. When she nodded her consent, Oliver crouched so he was eye level with William. “She’s hurt, but she’s going to be OK,” he told his son gently. “We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen to her again.”

“Good,” William nodded.

Oliver patted his shoulder before standing and turning to the third member of the group. “Thank you for coming, Nyssa.”

“Of course,” Nyssa nodded. “After what I saw of her, I found it hard to believe she had a weakness that could be this terrible.”

“It is,” Oliver nodded grimly.

The breach flared one final time, the last members of Team Arrow coming through. “Wow,” Curtis looked around, eyes wide. “We come in peace?”

“I think they get that,” Rene rolled his eyes, walking up to Oliver. “Hey, Hoss.” “How is she?” Dinah asked.

“Recovering,” Oliver answered, looking around at everyone who had come from his Earth. “Thank you,” he told them sincerely. “None of you had to come.”

“Yes, we did,” Felicity said fiercely.

“Oliver, none of us were going to sit this out,” Dig shook his head. “No way.”

Oliver nodded and turned to J’onn. “J’onn is the director of the Department of Extranormal Operations, the organization Kara works with,” he introduced the others. “Dig, you thought Kara was impressive, wait until you see what he can do.”

“Do I want to know?” Dig asked almost worriedly.

Oliver chuckled as J’onn transformed into his Martian form. “You tell me.”

“Whoa,” William’s eyes widened.

“That’s cool,” Curtis said faintly.

Oliver shook his head. “The rest of my team,” he gestured. “Field support is my sister, Thea – ”

“Speedy,” she nodded.

“Dig.”

“Spartan,” Dig nodded.

“Dinah.”

“Black Canary,” the metahuman spared Laurel a quick look, who merely gave a small smile. The doppelgänger of the original Black Canary preferred Black Siren anyway.

“Rene.”

“Wild Dog,” Rene nodded.

“Curtis.”

“Mr. Terrific,” Curtis smiled.

“And Nyssa Raatko, or – ”

“Nyssa al Ghul,” Nyssa nodded.

“Felicity is tech support,” Oliver gestured to the blonde.

“Overwatch,” she smiled.

“Quentin Lance, occasional field support and informant,” Oliver nodded to his deputy mayor. “And my son William and his mother, Samantha.”

“Welcome to Earth-38,” J’onn nodded to all of them. “And thank you for waging a war against an organization you know nothing about.”

“I know they have a bone to pick with blondie,” Rene shrugged. “All I need to know right now.”

“It still means a lot,” Alex finally walked forward. “I’m Alex, Kara’s older sister.”

“Maggie Sawyer,” Maggie came forward as well. “NCPD. I’ve worked a lot with the D.E.O. since they relocated here.”

The rest of Team Arrow introduced themselves when Thea suddenly craned her neck, looking past Oliver. “Is that her?” she pointed.

Oliver quickly looked over his shoulder to see into the medbay, where Malcolm and Slade were bending over Kara’s bed. A moment later, he could see they were helping the blonde start to sit up. “That’s her,” he nodded, sprinting over.

Slade looked up when Oliver joined them. “She’s as stubborn as you are, kid,” he said with a smirk. “Can’t keep her down long.”

“Unlike me, she’s an alien who can probably get back on her feet quicker than I can,” Oliver countered. Regardless, he put his hand on Kara’s shoulder. “Are you OK?” he asked quietly.

“Feel like I just went through a blender,” Kara mumbled, shaking her head slightly.

“You got overwhelmed by a ton of Kryptonite,” Malcolm told her. “As in knives, bullets, and those weird bracelets.”

“Thank you,” Kara whispered, reaching for Malcolm’s hand and squeezing it.

A brief look of surprise passed over Malcolm’s face before he smiled back. “You’re welcome, almas.”

“What?” she blinked up at him.

“Almas,” he repeated. “It’s Arabic. It means diamond.”

Slade snorted when Kara’s cheeks turned red. “Way to go, wizard, making her blush.”

“It’s _magician,_ thank you.”

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Someone wants to say hi to you,” he told Kara.

“Who?” she perked up.

“Well,” Oliver made a show of stepping to the side, showing the rest of Team Arrow approaching. “I should say _someones.”_

“You’re kidding me,” Kara shot up, her jaw falling open.

“Hey, girl,” Felicity smiled, she and Thea the first ones to walk up.

“Oh, my God,” Kara’s eyes filled with tears, wrapping her arms around the two girls. “Oh, my God, you came!”

“Of course we did,” Thea hugged her, smiling. “I told you we would!”

“Besides, we owe you,” Felicity smiled at Kara. _“All_ of us do.”

Kara buried her head in Thea’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she mumbled.

“You’re welcome,” Thea smiled, giving her one more quick squeeze before pulling away.

“Kara?” William asked nervously.

“William!” Kara’s eyes widened, and she scooted to the edge of her bed, leaning down so she could meet his gaze easier. “You came, too?”

“Mom said the fighting is covered,” William nodded. “But support is a good thing to have, too.”

Kara looked up at Samantha, tears in her eyes. “Your mother is a very smart woman,” she smiled at William.

“OK, maybe it was a good idea for you two to come,” Oliver finally admitted as William started chatting with Kara, watching the blonde start to smile more.

“So,” Felicity practically bounced up. “Who do I talk to?”

“That would be Winn,” Oliver pointed to where the man was chatting with James and Lyra still. “He’s the tech attached to Kara.”

“Ooo, techie?” Felicity grinned. “I’ll start setting up here right away.”

“Good,” Oliver nodded. “The sooner, the better.”

* * *

**_Alex Danvers_ **

“Hey, hey, hey,” Thea ran to catch up with Alex, who was working on disengaging the sun lamps. “Kara’s sister, right?”

“Yeah,” Alex nodded, turning to her. “And you’re Oliver’s, right?”

“Yeah,” Thea nodded, biting her lip. “So . . . ” She turned to look at where their siblings were interacting before turning and grinning. “What do you think?”

Alex blinked. “Excuse me?”

“OK,” Thea leaned in closer, making Maggie frown slightly. “Come on. Would they not make the most kickass couple ever?”

Alex’s eyebrows shot up, and she conspiratorially leaned past Thea as well to look at the two. Laurel noticed and put a hand over her mouth before she started laughing. Unfortunately, that tipped Kara off, who looked past Slade and blushed when she saw them. “Stop it!” she complained, making the others turn as well.

The two sisters turned around, laughing to themselves. “Yes,” Alex admitted.

“Good,” Thea grinned. “Because the entire team shares that opinion.”

“What, are you going to get them together while fighting Cadmus at the same time?”

Thea shrugged. “It’s called multitasking.” Alex snorted, making Thea grin. “Just let me know if you’re in.”

“That’s not even a question,” Alex grinned as Thea sauntered off.

“What’s not even a question?” Maggie walked over, doing her best to seem disinterested.

“Getting Oliver and Kara together,” Alex answered with a grin. Maggie did a double take. “What?”

“So,” Thea said loudly, drawing everyone’s attention back to her. “Cadmus made the mistake of attacking Kara, not Supergirl. We’re all here, and we’re all pissed.” She smirked at Oliver, J’onn, and Kara. “Let the good times roll.”

That smirk was reflected back by Oliver, Slade, Malcolm, and Laurel. “Is it bad that I’m actually slightly scared?” Lena turned to Samantha.

“No,” Samantha shook her head, looking back at the others as they immediately started discussing what to do with Cadmus. “If you’re smart, you should be.”


	10. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Arrow gets filled in, the Earth-38 ladies hang out with the ones from Earth-1, and the Earth-1 vigilantes finally make their live appearance in National City.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Oliver Queen_ **

“So who’s the bitch that thinks she can get away with this?” Quentin asked as the two teams regrouped in the main hub of the D.E.O.

“Winn?” Oliver prompted.

“Meet Lillian Luthor,” Winn tapped on his tablet, pulling her picture up on the screen. “Please, feel free to put an arrow or sword or bullet or whatever you come up with in her if you see her.”

“Noted,” Nyssa tilted her head, memorizing the face.

“If it does come to that, please, not when I’m around,” Lena made a face.

“Also noted.”

“Go on,” Oliver nodded.

“Mother of Lex Luthor, adopted mother of Lena Luthor, former member of the Lex Corp board,” Winn continued. “When Lex was incarcerated with 32 consecutive life sentences – ”

“Dang,” Curtis did a double take as Rene let out a low whistle.

“Mother was oh so happy about that,” Lena said sarcastically.

“Anyway, after that, Lillian cut off contact with Lena and took over Project Cadmus,” Winn tapped away, pulling up various Cadmus records and files, making Kara turn away. Oliver put his arm around her, letting her turn into him, ignoring James’s surprised look and the look exchanged by their sisters. “And as if it couldn’t get any worse, she severed Cadmus’s ties with the government, using it for her own purposes.”

“Eradicating all aliens,” Alex nodded.

“And she’s your mother?” Slade couldn’t help but ask Lena.

“Not by blood,” Lena snorted. “And she certainly isn’t helping her case now.”

“OK, so how are we going to do this?” Dig asked, looking around. “Killing her is obvious, I get that, and so is taking out Cadmus. Thing is, if we do that, I don’t think it’s something we can just cover up.”

“Definitely not,” J’onn agreed. “And I would technically need the President’s permission to raze Cadmus to the ground.”

“Guessing we’re not getting that?” Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

“Put together an unbreakable case for doing this, we might.”

“Not without doing something illegal,” Maggie folded her arms. “Most of this info isn’t something we’re going to find without breaking the law.”

“Then we don’t get her permission,” Alex shrugged, acting like it was no big deal.

“Danvers!” Maggie stared at her, eyes wide.

“Cadmus has been targeting my sister!” Alex defended herself. “My concern is making sure she’s safe, not if the President approves of it.”

“Lena and I are working on hacking through Cadmus’s files, pulling everything they have,” Winn said. “And what I’ve seen so far of their alien experiments, it makes me sick.”

“I can help with that,” Felicity put up her hand, walking over. “Just let me get set up, point to where you want me to hack, and I’ll get to work.”

“I might be able to help a bit, too,” Curtis added.

“Sure,” Winn nodded, turning to J’onn. “Boss?”

“Go,” J’onn nodded, and with the permission, Winn led Felicity and Curtis over to his work station. “Do any other members of your team have powers?” J’onn asked Oliver.

“Dinah has the same ability as Laurel,” Oliver nodded to the police officer. “Other than that, no.” He smirked. “Powers doesn’t mean someone is deadly. It’s how they use their abilities.”

“He’s right,” Kara smiled. “You should have seen them against the Dominators in the other universe. Oliver, Dig, and Mick were the only ones fighting on the ground without powers, and they held their own against dozens of them. The rest of them are just as good.”

Dig blinked, surprised by the compliment. “Dominators _are_ hard to fight,” J’onn conceded, nodding. “I’m impressed.”

“Mind control is _awful,_ though,” Thea grumbled.

“I’m the one who had to fight all of you while Barry fought Kara,” Oliver snorted.

“Whoa, Barry was mind controlled?” James’s eyes widened.

“No, Kara was,” Dig pointed.

“You were?!” Lena stared at Kara.

“Yeah,” she nodded sheepishly. “That was not fun.”

“How did you not kill everyone?” Alex gawked at her.

“Barry,” Oliver shrugged. “He was fast enough to keep her distracted while I protected Wally from the others.”

“He held off Dig, Thea, and Sara at the same time,” Felicity grinned. “And did awesome.”

“Sara?” Maggie frowned.

“She leads that group of time travelers, right?” James asked in a bit of confusion.

“Yeah, she’s an assassin,” Kara nodded before looking at Oliver in concern. “Have you been able to contact her?”

“No,” Oliver shook his head, worry in his eyes.

Kara chewed her lip, then asked hesitantly, “And Barry?” Silently, Oliver shook his head again. Kara’s eyes teared up again as she sat on the edge of a table. “Poor Iris.”

“OK, we need to cheer you up,” Thea clapped, grabbing Kara’s arm and hoisting her up. “I have a very important question for you, girl.” When Kara blinked at her, Thea folded her arms, a very serious look on her face. “Where can you find ice cream in this city?” Kara’s eyes lit up, and Alex laughed. “Oh, you’re going to regret asking that.”

“Then by all means,” Thea held out her arm dramatically towards the door. “Lead the way.”

Kara giggled started towards the door. Thea winked at Oliver, who shook his head fondly as she followed after the alien. “Hey!” Felicity scrambled out of her chair, nearly knocking it over. “I’m coming, too!”

Laurel rolled her eyes, but everyone saw her sneak one of the pistols from the armory and put it under her jacket before she strutted off as well, Dinah snickering as she followed. “This should be interesting,” Alex remarked, taking her jacket and following. “Mags? Lena?”

The detective and the CEO did not need much convincing to follow. “Now _that_ is an interesting group,” James raised an eyebrow.

“Do I need to ask?” Oliver asked lightly.

Everyone frowned his way before looking around as Malcolm and Slade walked past, both of them slipping weapons of some sort under their coats, grabbing their duffels as they went. “Oh,” Curtis blinked.

Quentin chuckled. “Those ladies are the most protected in all of National City right now.”

“And I don’t care if we don’t have time to make a plan,” Oliver said bluntly, turning to J’onn. “If they get attacked, we take Cadmus out _immediately.”_

* * *

**_Thea Queen_ **

“Oh, my God,” Felicity moaned as she shoved another spoonful of chocolate ice cream in her mouth. “This is _awesome.”_

“I know!” Kara grinned, eyes alight.

“I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed ice cream with friends,” Laurel tilted her head as she took a sip of her milkshake. “I think it was before Oliver died on Earth-2.”

“Wait,” Maggie frowned. “You’re from a different Earth than everyone else?”

“Yes,” Laurel nodded.

“She was also a villain at one point,” Felicity added.

“Until Kara set me straight,” Laurel gave her a look.

Kara ducked her head, embarrassed, and Dinah laughed. “I’m guessing that gets said a lot?”

“Mmm!” Thea held up her spoon, swallowed her mouthful of ice cream, then pointed it at Dinah. “Don’t forget Dad and Slade.”

“Oh, right,” Felicity nodded.

“Chase was a lost cause,” Laurel mused.

Kara snorted. “I _hated_ him.”

“Kara ‘puppy dog’ Danvers, hating someone?” Maggie’s eyebrows raised. “Say it isn’t so.”

“Oh, you missed her first year as Supergirl,” Alex shook her head. “Siobhan Smythe.”

“Oh, my God,” Kara groaned, hanging her head. “That was _awful.”_

“Who’s Siobhan Smythe?” Felicity frowned in confusion.

“Oh, I remember you telling me about that,” Lena nodded. “Cat’s Assistant Number One, right?”

“I thought you were her assistant,” Thea frowned at Kara.

“I _was,”_ Kara grumbled. “Then the Black Mercy happened, and I was incapacitated for a few work days. J’onn turned into me and covered my job, but Ms. Grant knew something was up. She thought I wasn’t up to normal standards, so she hired another assistant and made me Assistant Number Two.”

Thea scowled. “That sucks.”

“And Winn _dated_ her,” Kara wrinkled her nose.

“You’re kidding,” Dinah stared at her.

“I’m not.”

“What happened to her?” Laurel asked.

“She turned into a metahuman and became hellbent on killing me,” Kara shrugged, eating another bite of ice cream.

Felicity choked. “What?” Dinah blinked.

“Hang on, that sounds familiar,” Thea frowned. “That was when you met Barry, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah!” Kara pointed her spoon at Thea. “That was it!”

“Apparently she ‘Mariah Carey’ed you out of the building?”

“Right through the window.”

“Damn,” Thea whistled, leaning back. “One hell of a way to get a guy’s attention.”

Kara choked that time. “Oh, she knows exactly the problems with that,” Alex smirked, clapping Kara on the back to help her clear her airway. “She was dealing with one at the time.”

“Oh, really?” Felicity leaned forward eagerly. “Who?”

Kara was still coughing, so Alex answered for her. “James.”

 _“Really?”_ Laurel’s eyebrows went up.

“Yes,” Kara blushed, and Thea tilted her head, taking out her phone discretely and typing out a text: _James and Kara didn’t work together. Just a heads up._ “It . . . didn’t work.”

“So we noticed,” Felicity nodded, then blanched. “And by we noticed, we noticed you weren’t with James. Or not in the ‘together’ sense.”

“Felicity,” Kara giggled, Thea nodding when a text came back. “It’s fine.” The alien frowned when Thea showed her phone to Laurel, who snorted loudly. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” Thea said innocently, Laurel looking past her to nod at the two that were outside the shop. Malcolm nodded back before nonchalantly looking back around, Slade smirking as Laurel looked back down at the Dark Archer’s response: _Trust me, Slade’s already on it._ “No problems.”

Kara was about to say something when she paused. Her eyes glazed over for a moment before she cleared her throat and put her spoon back in her sundae. “One minute.”

Alex watched her hurriedly leave, then rolled her eyes. “Time.”

Lena nodded and pulled out her phone, pulling up a timer app and setting it going. “What?” Dinah asked in confusion.

“She has a job,” Alex stressed the last word.

Felicity’s mouth opened in an O shape. “Right. The ears.”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

“Bank robbery downtown, Supergirl’s already on the scene,” Winn announced, then blinked. “Whoa. Hold on.”

“What?” J’onn asked, he, Oliver, Nyssa, Dig, and Quentin looking over his shoulders, Samantha, William, Rene, and Curtis behind them.

“I don’t think this is a normal robbery,” Winn swallowed. “They’re way too geared up for this.”

Oliver narrowed his eyes. “Cadmus?”

“Or hired guns,” Quentin suggested.

Another alert came up, and Winn hurried to pull it up. “Heist at a jewelry store several streets down,” he said, blanching. “With hostages.”

“Kara can’t get there with everyone on her at the bank,” Dig pointed out the several thugs that just seemed to keep coming.

“Could this be a new way to defeat her?” Nyssa asked, making everyone look at her. “Multiple problems in the city, and someone dies that she could have saved?”

“That’s not going to happen,” Oliver shook his head.

“Not if Kara can’t get to the jewelry store,” Winn argued.

“She doesn’t need to be there,” Oliver told him.

“What do you mean?”

Oliver just looked at J’onn. “Do you have motorbikes we can use?”

* * *

**_Alex Danvers_ **

“Oh, frack,” Felicity’s eyes widened as the TV in the ice cream shop broadcasted the breaking news of the simultaneous robberies. “Please tell me one of her powers is to be in two places at once.”

“No,” Maggie shook her head, pulling out her phone as it started to ring. “I’ve got to get out there.”

“Go,” Alex gave her a kiss.

Maggie nodded and ran outside, everyone turning back to the screens. “Which one is she at?” Dinah’s eyes flicked from screen to screen.

“There,” Lena pointed at the screen showing the bank. Kara was fighting six men at once, several already on the ground around her. “Looks like they were waiting for her.”

Thea’s breath suddenly hitched. “They’ve got guns on the hostages!”

Everyone turned to the jewelry heist broadcast to see two of the eight men aiming at employees, screams starting to be heard. “Oh, my God,” Dinah whispered in horror.

As if she could hear the screams, Kara fought with more effort, a panicked look in her eyes as she tried to fight, but thug after thug kept standing in her way. “She’s not going to make it,” Laurel realized, eyes wide.

Lena turned to look outside, then blinked. “Malcolm and Slade aren’t there anymore.”

Alex turned to see. All the evidence that showed the men had been there was the vacated chairs. She turned back, to see one of the thugs at the jewelry heist give an order –

And a green arrow punctured one gunman’s shoulder.

Alex’s jaw dropped as Thea let out a loud squeal of delight. “Yes!” she cheered as a dark red arrow followed the green one, hitting the other gunman in the hand, causing him to drop his weapon. _“Yes!”_

Felicity whooped in glee as Oliver and Nyssa, in their full vigilante gear, charged into the fray, Oliver taking on the two thugs as Nyssa ran to release the hostages. “They knew!”

“Must’ve been Winn,” Alex smiled, remembering they had remained back at the D.E.O.

Lena suddenly grinned widely. “They’re not the only ones who suited up.”

That drew attention back to the bank robbery, in time to see two of the thugs yelp in pain and topple over, ebony arrows in their necks. That was closely followed by the glint of a silver blade downing two others. Kara drew herself up more confidently as she, Malcolm, and Slade shifted to watch each other’s backs, the three of them fighting together. “Oh, thank God,” Laurel breathed in relief.

Thea smiled as Dig and Rene joined the fight with Oliver and Nyssa. “Guess Cadmus needs to do more than try and do that again.”

Alex smiled fondly as she watched Kara and her two vigilante guardians fight together. “Take that, Luthor.”

* * *

**_Kara Danvers_ **

“How did you two know?” Kara shouted to the two men as she slugged one thug in the face.

“Easily!” was all Malcolm replied with as he used one of his arrows to stab one thug, quickly firing it into another’s calf, making the man go head over heels into the pavement.

“Looked like you could use a hand,” Slade grunted, tripping another thug. “Or two, from some of us.”

Kara stopped to gawk at Slade, her eyes wide. She was absolutely certain that underneath that mask of his, he was grinning maniacally. “That is _cold,”_ Malcolm growled.

Kara shook herself out of her stupor, using her heat vision on the last thug, dropping him. “The heist?” she asked, trying to hear.

“Covered,” Quentin’s voice answered through the Bluetooth she wore. “Everyone’s safe.”

“Take that, National City!” Curtis whooped.

Kara grinned goofily at the two men as police cars started making their way over. “We need to get out of here.”

“Has she ever flown you?” Malcolm asked Slade as the cheery alien bounced over to them.

“No,” Slade shook his head.

Malcolm chuckled. “Hang on.”

Kara grabbed Malcolm and Slade by the back of their uniforms, taking off into the sky, heading back to the D.E.O.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen/Slade Wilson_ **

“OK, I know Kara said you guys were awesome, but that was badass,” Winn grinned as Oliver, Nyssa, Dig, and Rene returned to the D.E.O., Rene grinning as he removed his mask.

“Thanks to you telling us where we were going,” Oliver nodded before looking at Quentin. “Kara?”

“Malcolm and Slade got there a minute or so after you showed up,” Quentin answered. “They should be back here soon.”

The words had barely left his mouth before there was a rush of air, then Kara swooped in through the balcony, Malcolm and Slade in her grasp. The moment their feet were on the ground, Slade removed his mask and Malcolm removed his veil, Kara immediately running down the stairs. “Thank you!” she grinned at Oliver, hugging him so hard he stumbled backwards slightly. “Thank you _so_ much!”

Despite his usual seriousness, Oliver couldn’t hold back a chuckle and a smile as he hugged her back. “If we’re going to help save you, might as well help save your city while we’re at it.”

“That was way too many people for a normal bank robbery,” Malcolm said as he walked up, running a hand over his hair to try and get it back to normal. “They just kept coming.”

“Someone wanted to keep Kara there,” J’onn deduced.

“Why would they do that?” Samantha frowned.

“Psychological,” Slade answered simply.

“They can’t hurt her physically, they do it mentally,” Dig nodded. “That was the point of the jewelry heist.”

“Supergirl can’t be in two places at once, so while she’s stuck working on the bank robbery, there’s a jewelry heist going on with hostages, and if they get killed, that’s on Supergirl’s conscience for not being able to save everyone,” Curtis realized.

“Exactly,” Oliver nodded.

“So this was Cadmus?” Quentin scowled. “Can’t they leave her alone for one damn day?”

“Apparently not,” Slade grumbled.

Kara tensed in Oliver’s arms, and he squeezed her comfortingly. “Well, now they know that she’s got more than just the D.E.O. looking out for her now and won’t be that stupid again.”

“So much for relaxing,” Kara mumbled, chewing her lip.

“Even Supergirl needs to take a break some days,” J’onn told her.

“And now that my team’s in the city, we can help break up a few crimes here and there,” Oliver nodded. “After these Cadmus bouts, you deserve a bit of a break, Kara.”

“I know,” Kara nodded, leaning against one of the consoles, Oliver doing the same next to her. “It’s just . . . I feel like I need to keep looking over my shoulder. I’ve _never_ had to do that before.”

“Hoss keeps doing that all the time,” Rene smirked.

“It’s what keeps me alive,” Oliver countered. “It still does.” He took Kara’s hand and squeezed it. “When we’re through with Cadmus, you won’t need to look over your shoulder for them again. I promise.”

Kara smiled. “Thank you.”

Oliver kissed the top of her head, ignoring the knowing looks Dig, Nyssa, Malcolm, and Slade gave him. “So get out of your suit and not worry about saving the city for a bit.”

“We can hold down the fort here,” J’onn nodded.

“Yeah, you were nearly killed by these psychos several times,” Dig added.

“Oh, notice from Alex,” Winn waved his phone. “She said pizza and potstickers party at your place.”

Kara’s eyes widened, and Oliver laughed. “Guess your sister’s got the same idea.”

“Go, little one,” Slade chuckled. “Let others do the saving the city for a day.”

Kara blushed at the nickname before nodding and looking at Oliver. “My place it is.”

Oliver nodded, and Kara grabbed the back of his suit before taking off. They watched her go before Rene finally snickered. “Five bucks says they’re together by the end of this mess.”

“Ten says it’s in the next three days,” Dig smirked.

“I’m with Rene,” Winn raised his hand.

“You’re _betting_ on them?” Samantha looked at them with wide eyes.

“I’m with Dig,” Malcolm grinned.

Slade shook his head, walking over to where Nyssa and Quentin were watching with J’onn in amusement. “I think the kid’s been smitten with her since the island, to be honest.”

Nyssa and Quentin nodded before the deputy mayor spoke up. “Five says something happens by tomorrow. Maybe not together, but just _something.”_

“You gonna offer that to them?” Slade nodded towards the four men discussing the bets.

“No,” Quentin smirked.

“I wouldn’t mind,” William shrugged. “Dad likes her, and I like her.”

Samantha laughed. “I guess that practically makes her family already.”

“She was when she saved everyone on the island,” Nyssa said softly.

J’onn turned to see everyone seemed to sober at the statement. “Kara mentioned she went to your Earth to help Oliver. She never told the entire story.”

Slade nodded. “Got any beers?” When J’onn raised an eyebrow, he snorted. “We’re gonna need them.”


	11. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Food party at Kara's place, and finally some more Kariver fluff, even if it's also quite angsty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Oliver Queen/Kara Danvers_ **

“That is a genius idea,” Thea pointed at Kara’s balcony as she and Oliver landed. “That is _perfect_ for you!”

“Hey, guys,” Alex smiled as she held up a stack of pizza boxes with one hand, the other holding up a bag of takeout. “Hungry?” _“Starving,”_ Kara moaned, hurrying to her room to change out of her suit.

Oliver shook his head, smiling fondly as he removed his gloves. “She could give Barry a run for his money on how much they eat.”

“I’ve never met Barry, but he’s a metahuman, right?” When Oliver nodded, Alex snorted. “Oliver. My sister’s an _alien.”_

Oliver sighed. “She’d beat him, wouldn’t she?”

“Probably,” Alex grinned as Lena and Dinah snickered.

“Also, one of the D.E.O. agents dropped by with your bag, and Laurel’s,” Maggie gestured towards the wall. “That’s assuming you want to be on ‘Kara Watch.’”

“Kara Watch?” Oliver repeated.

Alex tucked her hair behind her ear. “She’s not at the D.E.O. anymore,” she said softly. “None of us know how she’s going to do.”

Oliver immediately nodded. “I’ll stay. Absolutely.”

“It’ll be you and me, then,” Alex nodded. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, honestly, I do – ”

“Thank God,” Thea mumbled into her drink.

“But she’s your sister,” Oliver finished for Alex. “I’d do the same for Thea.”

“Naw,” Thea nudged him playfully. “Thanks, big bro!”

“So, that pizza is all Kara’s, and it’ll be gone before any of us even finish two slices,” Alex took the top pizza off and set it to the side. “Practically every meat that exists is on that thing.”

“I have the best sister ever,” Kara declared as she exited her bedroom, wearing sweats and a tank top, tying her hair in a ponytail.

“Eh, I could argue,” Oliver shrugged.

“Please don’t tell me we’re going to start this right when we’re about to eat,” Dinah groaned, reaching for a box of Chinese.

“Well, they’re both badasses,” Felicity shrugged, making Alex and Thea smirk at each other. “I don’t think it’s fair to compare them.”

Oliver rolled his eyes as he went to get his bag and change out of his suit. “Bathroom’s just down the hall,” Kara smiled, pointing.

“Thanks,” Oliver nodded. “Enjoy your entire pizza. You’ll probably be done when I get back,” he joked.

Kara playfully smacked him in the shoulder, making him snicker as he left. Kara turned in time to see Alex and Thea giving her expectant looks, while Lena, Felicity, and Dinah tried not to laugh. Maggie and Laurel already were. “Stop it!” she complained, sending all of them into fits of laughter.

* * *

**_Alex Danvers_ **

“No, no, no, hold on,” Alex shook her head, rubbing her temples. “Sorry, I’m still trying to understand this.”

“So am I,” Maggie looked between a snickering Oliver and a laughing Thea. “Seriously?”

“How are they not making this connection?” Alex threw up her hands. “First there was the Arrow, then there’s the _Green_ Arrow?”

“And you still wore green as the Arrow?” Maggie clarified.

“Yes,” Felicity giggled, her shoulders shaking as Lena collapsed into giggles.

“I’m sorry, that’s worse than _her,”_ Alex pointed at Kara, who started, “thinking she can get away with wearing glasses and putting her hair up.”

“Hey!” Kara whined. “It’s worked so far!”

“I don’t know what Star City’s excuse is,” Dinah snorted.

“I don’t know, either,” Oliver admitted freely, taking a drink from his beer.

“What are they, blind?” Maggie wondered, making Laurel choke on her sip of wine.

“God only knows,” Thea rolled her eyes, brushing her hands off. “Well, thanks for dinner, but I’m going to go check in with Samantha and William.”

“Yeah, we better get back to the D.E.O.,” Felicity nodded, hurrying to stand. “Maybe they found something that we can work with tomorrow.”

“The sooner, the better,” Oliver nodded.

“Sleep well,” Lena smiled at everyone as she grabbed her coat.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Thea added, playfully glaring at Oliver. “As in _do not_ think about patrolling a city you don’t know.”

Oliver raised an eyebrow as if asking “who, me?” “Slade and Malcolm are probably already doing that,” Laurel snorted, rolling her eyes.

“They would,” Oliver admitted.

“Really, though, I hope everything goes well,” Maggie gave Kara a quick hug and kissed Alex’s cheek.

“So do I,” Kara fidgeted slightly.

“And that’s why we’re here,” Alex nodded to Oliver. “We’ll make sure nothing happens.”

Kara nodded, chewing her lip, still seeming unsure.

* * *

**_Alex Danvers/Oliver Queen_ **

After Kara went to bed, Oliver and Alex argued for ten minutes straight on who would be getting the couch. In the end, they had to flip a coin for who would decide. When Oliver won and told Alex she could get the couch, Alex, in return, told Oliver stubbornly they would do best two out of three. Oliver still won and physically hauled her to the couch. Only then did Alex grumble and settle down to sleep. As she started nodding off, she realized that left Oliver in the armchair closest to Kara’s bedroom. She had a smile on her face with that thought in mind as she slipped into sleep.

It felt like she had just closed her eyes when Kara’s shrieks shattered the silence.

Alex shot up from the couch, throwing the blankets off her, looking around for Oliver, only to see him already opening the door to Kara’s room. She scrambled after him, and both of them ran to where Kara was thrashing in bed, hair messily sprawled over the pillows. “Kara!” Oliver shook her slightly, Alex crawling onto the other side of the bed. “Kara, wake up!”

“Kara,” Alex tapped her lightly. “Come on, Kara!”

“Kara!”

Kara lashed out suddenly, and Oliver yelped when she caught him in the stomach with full Kryptonian strength, sending him reeling. “Kara!” Alex gasped, shaking Kara slightly harder as Oliver winced, gripping the doorframe as he slowly straightened.

“Well,” Oliver blinked, groaning a bit as he finally got upright. “Now I know a bit about how Adrian felt after she dealt with him.”

Kara shot upright, eyes as wide as saucers, her other hand raised to hit again. “Whoa, Kara!” Alex flung both hands up. “Kara, it’s me! It’s Alex!”

“Alex?” Kara repeated faintly, chest heaving as she tried to come back to reality.

“Yes,” Alex nodded furiously. “You’re safe, Kara. You’re back in your apartment.”

Oliver reached over and flicked the light on, making Alex wince slightly. Kara blinked rapidly, looking around, before her gaze landed on him. Her eyes widened again, and she blanched. “Oh, Rao, did I – ?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Oliver shook his head, making his way over.

“Oliver, I just _hit_ you!”

“Kara, trust me when I say this is nothing compared to five years of hell,” Oliver gave her a look.

Kara chewed her lip, tears in her eyes. “I still hit you.”

Oliver sighed, giving her a sympathetic hug. “You were having a nightmare. I don’t blame you for lashing out.”

“Did I say anything?” Kara asked warily.

“No,” Oliver shook his head. “You were just screaming.”

Kara nodded, chewing her lip and pulling her legs up to her chest. “Can I get you anything?” Alex asked quietly. When Kara didn’t answer, she tilted her head. “Some famous Alex Danvers hot chocolate?”

That coaxed a small smile from Kara. “Maybe.”

“OK,” Alex chuckled, giving Kara a small hug. “Oliver? Do you want some?”

“Won’t hurt, I guess,” Oliver shrugged. “Thanks.”

Alex nodded and left, leaving the door open. Oliver watched her go –

“I could never say anything once they started.”

Oliver froze and turned to Kara, startled. She was staring at a blank spot on the wall, tears in her eyes. “What?” he asked carefully, sitting down on the bed.

“It hurt so much, I couldn’t get any words out,” Kara answered numbly, trying to make herself look even smaller. “Sometimes, I couldn’t even scream. My voice just gave out.”

Oliver swallowed, unsure whether he should comfort the scared Kryptonian or not. When she sniffed and rubbed at her eyes, that made the decision for him. He scooted closer and held out an arm. Kara curled into him, starting to sob, and Oliver squeezed her tightly. “What did you see?” he asked quietly. Kara looked down, and he squeezed her again. “You don’t need to tell me.”

“No, I need to tell someone.” Kara took a shaky breath. “It didn’t originally start out as . . . _torture.”_ She said it as if it was a curse word. “Originally, they just . . . they kept me chained in the cell you found me in. At least, I assume it was my cell?”

“Did it have Kryptonite bars?”

Kara shuddered. “That’s it. At first, they just kept me in there in Kryptonite chains, too. Questions started off simple, too. Where certain aliens in National City were, and if I didn’t answer, they’d tighten the chains. When they started rubbing my wrists raw and I couldn’t speak, that was when they left.” Oliver tensed at the description. If Kryptonite could do that to her _wrists . . ._

Kara sniffed and looked down, and a small movement off to the side made Oliver look up. Alex was standing in the doorway, one hand covering her mouth, tears in her eyes. Oliver made a quiet motion, and Alex nodded, silently shifting to a position where she wasn’t in eyesight but could still hear. If Oliver could help Kara, she would stay out of the conversation.

“That was _simple?”_ Oliver asked Kara in disbelief.

“Complicated was when they chained me spread-eagled on one of their operating tables and switched to Kryptonite knives,” Kara deadpanned, and Oliver narrowed his eyes, clenching his fist. “They even started collecting my blood. Questions switched to ones about the structure of the D.E.O., about how to bring it down. More often than not, I nearly passed out on the table. That was when they . . . they _threw me back_ without caring if I was hurt or not.”

“And the bleeding?” Oliver asked.

Kara chuckled humorlessly. “They made sure I didn’t die.”

That was enough for Oliver to get that while Kara was obviously taken care of, it wasn’t to the best of Cadmus’s abilities. He took a deep breath, knowing this might not be the best way to go . . . but he _had_ to know. “When Cisco vibed you,” he began, pausing when Kara tensed. “When he saw you were in trouble . . . he said you were _injected.”_ Kara froze, and Oliver swallowed. “Kara, how long had that been going on?” Kara started to shake, and Oliver quickly reached for a blanket, wrapping it around Kara. “Like I said, you don’t need to answer – ”

“That was when Lillian just taunted me,” she croaked, and Oliver paused, narrowing his eyes. She had _not_ said that . . . had she? “Often it was about Lena, about how our friendship would be ruined if she knew I was Supergirl. Sometimes it was about J’onn or Alex or how I had lost my planet because I was just pathetic and weak. The more I reacted, the more they injected me.” She closed her eyes. “I swear, they just started measuring how much blood I lost to see when I bled the most.”

Oliver _snarled,_ making Kara recoil. “And just when I think I’ve seen the worst monsters can do,” he ground out, and Kara turned wide eyes to him. “Kara, how long did that happen? When did it start?”

Kara chewed her lip. “Midway into the second week,” she admitted.

“Half your time there,” Oliver figured it out. His eyes were practically slits by then. “Monsters is kind. _Savages,_ more like it.” Kara ducked her head, and Oliver shook his head, putting his hand on her cheek. “Kara, look at me. _Look at me.”_ Kara cautiously raised her head. “They’re going to pay,” he assured her. “And if that means my team and I butcher the entire organization, then we will. They’re never going to hurt you again. I promise.”

“And they won’t be alone, Kara,” Alex said softly, coming back into the room, holding out a large mug to Kara. She took it with shaky hands, and Alex crouched so they were at eye level. “We are going to wipe them from the planet, I swear. And if they even put a finger on you, you can bet they’re getting torn to pieces.”

Kara nodded numbly, lifting the mug to her lips and taking a drink. Oliver rubbed her arm comfortingly, nodding to Alex and letting her know he had this handled. Alex just nodded back and handed him another mug. He nodded again in thanks, but when Alex left, he put the mug on Kara’s bedside table. With his other hand, he pulled out his phone, found Malcolm’s number, and typed out a single order.

* * *

**_Malcolm Merlyn_ **

Malcolm was putting his sword on the weapons rack the D.E.O. had lent the Earth-1 vigilantes when his phone suddenly beeped. Frowning, he pulled it out, wondering who it was from. When he saw the message from Oliver, he tensed. “Now they’ve done it.”

“Who did what now?” Quentin asked, J’onn looking up from the tablet he and Winn were viewing.

Malcolm grimaced. “Cadmus just officially brought out the Hood in Oliver.”

“The Hood?” Winn echoed, looking around when Team Arrow either blanched or grimaced.

“During Oliver’s first year, there were times he was . . . less than kind to some of the people he paid visits to,” Dig answered carefully. “And, well . . . he’s kinder now, let’s put it that way.”

“What did he say?” Nyssa frowned.

“I’d say it’s safe to assume Quentin wins the bet,” Malcolm merely held out his phone.

Everyone looked at the screen, and Winn’s eyes went comically large as Felicity gasped, Slade growling as Laurel’s eyes narrowed.

_If you find any, kill all Cadmus men on sight._

“Holy crap, Oliver,” Curtis breathed.

“I know he wants Cadmus gone, but for him to give that order . . . ” Rene whistled. “Damn, Hoss.”

“Kara must have had a nightmare of some kind,” Dinah checked her watch.

“And Cadmus had the starring role,” Laurel agreed.

“Never again,” Slade shook his head.

Malcolm nodded as he typed out a two-word response to Oliver.

_Our pleasure._


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of humor in the first part, but it goes back to deadly serious quickly . . . and yes, I do mean deadly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who watch Legends of Tomorrow, you'll find me dropping quotes from the episode "Zari" in here on occasion . . . because thanks to that episode, Nate Heywood is now a national treasure. Thank you to whichever writer decided to put the man on drugs. It was hilarious and absolutely beautiful.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Malcolm Merlyn_ **

If anyone at the D.E.O. suspected Slade and Malcolm were up to something the same night, they never said anything.

If anyone were to confront them about leaving to find Cadmus agents _on purpose_ just to get a “head start,” they would deny it with a straight face.

But if anyone found any agents that actually _were_ dead . . . well, Nyssa also used arrows and swords. As long as Malcolm recovered the black arrows that marked them as his, they could put the blame on her.

Speaking of dead agents, too . . . “How many does that make tonight?” Malcolm asked as he pulled his arrow from the latest victim: an agent that looked like he had been on the tail of a specific alien. While it hadn’t been Kara, they had stopped him all the same. It was rather pathetic, he mused as he made a show of wiping his arrowhead off on the agent’s clothing. The Cadmus agents they met had all seemed to rely on using aliens’ weaknesses instead of actually showing some skills in fighting. Then again, he had just sniped this one down from the rooftop above, so granted, no one had seen him coming.

“The fifth,” Slade answered as he walked up. “There’s more of them out than I thought there would be.”

“Well, considering the stunt we pulled,” Malcolm smirked, “they’re probably trying to make what hits they can.”

“Hmm,” Slade considered, tilting his head. “They’re not doing a very good job.”

Malcolm snorted, standing up. “No, we’re just better.”

“And what’s wrong with that?”

Malcolm shook his head, still wondering how he was getting along with Slade Wilson, of all people, when he heard the sound of sirens nearby. He held up a hand, stopping Slade from commenting. “Listen.”

Slade tilted his head, hearing what he did. “Should we go?”

“Might as well,” Malcolm sighed, running for the nearby fire escape and scaling it quickly. “It’ll be easier to find than more Cadmus agents!”

Slade conceded the point and followed after him. “And no need for Kara or Oliver to be on the scene.”

“Exactly.”

It didn’t take them long to find out where the police cars were going. When they saw, Malcolm couldn’t help but groan and roll his eyes. “How many jewelry heists even happen in this city?”

“Maybe they’re hoping Kara shows up,” Slade narrowed his eye.

“Well, they’d be wrong,” Malcolm deadpanned, pressing a finger to the comms device in his ear. “No need to alert the others, J’onn. Slade and I’ve got the heist covered.”

“Thank you,” the Martian responded.

Malcolm brought his bow up and fired a zipline arrow to the next street over. He nodded to Slade, who took off down the line first. Once he was past the police cruisers, Malcolm swung after him.

And it turned out, they found their fair share of more Cadmus agents after all.

It was clear they really _had_ been expecting Supergirl to show up. As soon as Slade saw the glint of Kryptonite from the blades some of the dozen or so agents wore, he let out a vicious snarl and started swinging. When Malcolm noticed as well, he narrowed his eyes and shot to kill.

Over half of the agents were down before Slade noticed they weren’t fighting alone. “Four o’clock!” he warned Malcolm before grabbing the knife aiming for his shoulder and punching the agent who just attacked him in the jaw.

Malcolm shot one agent heading for him, watching him flail and collapse before turning in the direction Slade had warned. He considered the fully-armored figure in some kind of metal suit bashing a shield of all things into the head of another agent. “Think we just found Guardian,” he remarked to Slade before drawing his sword and impaling it in the throat of the agent that was about to embed a knife in his skull.

Slade stabbed the agent he was facing in the heart, risking a moment to turn and consider Olsen’s movements. “He’s not _terrible,”_ he conceded. “Should we know it’s him?”

Malcolm paused, turning to look at Slade. “You’d want to see what he could do anyway, with or without me.”

“Yes, I would,” Slade nodded.

Malcolm shook his head, smiling under his veil. “Then we don’t know him. Just make sure these bastards are all out before you ‘kill’ him.”

Oh, he knew for absolute certainty that the man was grinning under his helmet. This was going to be entertaining. “What do you take me for, an idiot?”

Malcolm smirked and shot the agent that was approaching Slade from behind. The former ASIS agent looked behind him in surprise, and Malcolm snickered. “If you keep that up, then yes.”

Slade growled, then whipped around to start attacking the four Cadmus agents remaining. Malcolm shook his head, trying not to laugh as he took down yet another with an ebony arrow. Typical Slade.

Olsen was the one to take down the last Cadmus agent; it was a knockout blow, one that Malcolm considered letting slide before overprotectiveness got the better of him, and he put two arrows in the agent’s back. Olsen’s head whipped up, but before he could say anything, Slade brought his sword up and aimed right at his head. Olsen scrambled to raise his shield to block the strike, and Malcolm drew his sword, aiming for his legs. Olsen went down with a thud, and both Slade and Malcolm approached. “And who the hell are you supposed to be?” Malcolm growled, glad his voice modulator was on.

The startled movement of Olsen moving back made it all the worthwhile. Malcolm heard him take a breath to answer, but then Slade was on him again. Malcolm shook his head, still ridiculously amused, before moving towards the rear of the store, towards the alley that was in back.

There was no need for the police to see the two new vigilantes kick Guardian’s ass, after all.

And Slade was certainly doing that, he thought in amusement as Slade kicked Olsen out, his shield the perfect uneven weight for him to use to follow through. Olsen stumbled, hastily trying to block Slade’s sword strikes, but the former ASIS agent was far too quick for him to keep up with. Malcolm calmly walked around them, picking shots at Olsen where he was weakest. He noted that Olsen did turn to block the projectiles aimed at places that would certainly put him out of the fight, but that, in turn, left him completely open to kill shots Slade could have taken. He never did, of course – that didn’t stop him from dealing blows that could certainly cripple him.

After seeing Olsen was considerably slower than he had been about five minutes ago, Malcolm lowered his bow. “Call it,” he said.

Slade grumbled slightly over the comms, then grabbed Olsen’s shield and used his momentum to flip him over his shoulder. Olsen flailed about as he fell to the ground, then Slade planted one foot on the wrist his shield was attached to. He pressed his knee into his chest, swinging his blade down to his neck.

He stopped it millimeters away.

Olsen froze in shock, and Malcolm finally approached, standing just behind Slade. “Do you have _any_ idea how lucky you are?” he asked.

“What?” Olsen croaked.

“Oh, he speaks,” Slade said sarcastically.

“You are extremely lucky we knew who you were,” Malcolm reiterated, switching off his voice modulator. “And you are _beyond_ lucky we didn’t beat you up more than we did.”

“Consider it a lesson, Guardian,” Slade rumbled, removing his blade and standing up. “Supergirl informed us of how you began this night job of yours with only a man in a van to help you.”

“Now, we’re not from this Earth, so we can’t exactly baby you and tell you what you can and can’t do,” Malcolm folded his arms. “But we _can_ say that it’s a bit stupid to venture out like this with so little help.”

“What are you going to do, tell her?” Olsen winced as he got to his feet.

“You always can,” Malcolm retorted. “The D.E.O. knows who you are, Supergirl knows who you are. Why don’t you just work together?”

“They’re too concerned with my safety,” Olsen griped. “As if Supergirl isn’t in danger every time she goes up against Cadmus.”

“And she has the D.E.O. backing her up, and now us,” Slade pointed out. “Who do you have if someone incapacitates the bird in your ear?” Olsen was silent at that. “The only thing that can go wrong with teaming up is arguing about stupid things like this. And it may be stupid, but that means someone’s looking out for you. Or would you rather have something go wrong and then Supergirl, Danvers, Sawyer, _and_ the Martian going ‘I told you so?’”

“You’d enjoy seeing that, wouldn’t you?” Malcolm turned to him.

“I didn’t say that, did I?” Slade tilted his head.

He snorted. “You didn’t have to.”

Slade scoffed and turned back to Olsen. “The point is, you get more rewards of having a team watching your back than risks. Not to mention, you’ll at least have someone to help you train and get better, and you’ll have less of a chance of getting pummeled like you just did.”

Olsen seemed to wither at that. “I’ll think about it,” he finally said.

“Good,” Malcolm nodded. “That’s all we – ” He paused, seeing Slade tense. “What?”

Slade just turned tail and headed back to the edge of the alley. “What is it?” Olsen asked, he and Malcolm following after the Aussie.

“Quiet,” Slade ordered, crouching by the edge of the alley.

Malcolm immediately went to the other side of the alley, attempting to hear what Slade had. “Enemies?” Olsen asked, but at least it was quieter.

“No,” Slade said sarcastically. “I’m trying to listen to the marshmallows talking.” Malcolm guffawed, trying hard not to laugh out loud. Who knew the Aussie had it in him to say something like that? “There’s someone else in the jewelry store now.”

Malcolm looked out past Slade, narrowing his eyes. “Another Cadmus van.”

Slade groaned. “One night. They can’t stop for one _bloody_ night, can they?”

“They’ve been out constantly since Supergirl was captured,” Olsen informed them.

“Have they?” Malcolm narrowed his eyes before drawing an arrow.

“What are you doing?” Olsen turned to him.

“Telling him we’re not looking to play nice,” Malcolm answered, stepping out, drawing his bow back, and firing.

The Cadmus vehicle went up in smoke, making the half dozen or so Cadmus agents that had emerged shout in alarm. Malcolm was already firing again, taking down two Cadmus agents before Slade darted out from his hiding place, pouncing on another agent and tackling him to the floor.

Olsen snapped out of whatever stupor he’d been in and charged out as well, smashing into another agent. Malcolm was free to draw again, downing his third victim as Slade’s blade claimed its first in this fight. Malcolm let him take the last one standing; he’d already claimed more than the Aussie.

Not that he was keeping score. Of course not.

Together, they made their way over to where Olsen was standing over the last agent, who seemed winded. “And this one?” Malcolm asked, tilting his head.

“Like the others,” Slade said as if it was obvious. “No,” Olsen shook his head. The more experienced vigilantes scowled at him, but Olsen looked up at them. “He can tell us what their plans are. He doesn’t exactly have an escape route, does he?”

Slade mulled that thought over in his head, then chuckled darkly, crouching down and looking at the agent, who looked much more terrified than he had before. “You’re starting to think like a vigilante, Guardian.”

“J’onn?” Malcolm activated his comm. “We’ve got a little _gift_ for you. I think you’re going to like it.”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Kara trudged out of her bedroom the next morning, tear tracks still staining her face from the night before. Oliver and Alex looked up from whatever they’d been discussing, and Alex sighed, holding out her arms. Kara immediately went into them, burying her face in her sister’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s OK,” Alex rubbed her back, squeezing her tight. “You’re not going anywhere. We’re not gonna let you go anywhere.”

“I know,” Kara mumbled, pulling back and wiping at her face. “It’s just . . . I’m scared.” She shook her head. “I haven’t been scared like this since the Daxamites.”

“You’re going up against an anti-alien organization that has tons of weapons that can actually kill you,” Oliver told her. “You’ve got every right to be scared.” Kara ducked her head, chewing her lip. “It takes an extremely strong person to admit they’re scared,” Oliver told her, putting his hands on her shoulders, making her look up. “And you, Kara Danvers, are the _strongest_ person I know.”

“Literally?” Kara’s lips quirked up in a smile.

“Well, that, too,” Oliver admitted, smirking slightly. “But you keep marching on. You keep fighting. Not many people can say that’s what they’ve done when faced with their greatest fear. You’ve got the D.E.O., you’ve got your family . . . and you’ve got us. Cisco’s just a breach away, and he said he and Wally would be here if you needed them. You have _so_ many people watching your back, Kara. Don’t stop fighting.”

He finally managed to coax a full smile from her. “Stay with me when we go after them?” she requested quietly.

“There’s no place I would rather be,” Oliver smiled, pulling her in for a hug. “I promised you when we sent our numbers over – I won’t let you down.”

Kara smiled widely at that, hugging Oliver back, Alex smiling at the exchange and reaching for her belongings. She had received a message from J’onn to head back to the D.E.O. as soon as Kara woke up, and she intended on going. She opened the door to leave –

And nearly ran smack into Samantha and William Clayton, Samantha’s hand raised to knock. “Oh!” Alex blinked in surprise, and behind her, Oliver and Kara sprang apart, both looking towards the door. “Hi!”

“Samantha? William?” Oliver asked, heading over. “What’re you doing here?”

“We hoped to catch you before breakfast,” Samantha answered, shifting her grip on the two large boxes of doughnuts she carried. “Since there’s not much we can do but be support, we might as well get started.”

“We asked Winn for your favorites,” William smiled at Kara, holding up the cardboard coffee carrier he held.

“Really?” Kara asked, eyes wide.

“It _is_ spiced pumpkin, extra foam, and a little cinnamon on top, right?” Samantha raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, my God, that’s my go-to,” Kara’s jaw dropped, touched.

“Here you go,” William beamed, handing her a large cup.

“You didn’t have to do this!”

“We did,” Samantha smiled. “Believe me, Kara, this is nothing compared to saving our lives. Besides, something happened last night. I don’t know what, but J’onn advised us to leave the D.E.O.”

“He did?” Oliver’s eyebrows went up.

“That must be why he wants me over there,” Alex frowned, looking at her phone. “He didn’t say what, but it’s got to be important.”

“Hmm,” Oliver frowned, pulling out his own phone.

“Well,” Kara took the top box of doughnuts and winked at William. “Let’s see if you got them right, shall we?”

William bounded over to the table with her as Alex left, Samantha walking over to Oliver. “Oliver, there’s something else you need to know,” she whispered.

“What?” Oliver looked at her.

“Malcolm and Slade left not long after you sent them your message,” she revealed.

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Probably out hunting Cadmus.”

“But at some point, they got in contact with J’onn,” Samantha continued quietly. “And the next thing I knew, J’onn was ordering a squad of D.E.O. soldiers in full combat gear out and was advising me to take William and go.”

Oliver narrowed his eyes. “They found something.”

“I don’t know what, but Winn looked concerned,” Samantha nodded.

Oliver looked over at Kara, seeing her laughing with William as they dove into the doughnuts. “I don’t want to leave her.”

“I know,” Samantha put her hand on his arm. “But whatever’s going on over there, it might be something you need to be there for.”

Oliver closed his eyes. “Can you stay with her?”

“Absolutely,” Samantha nodded.

“Thank you,” he said in relief, reaching for his jacket and bag.

“You need to leave?” Kara asked, looking up with those adorable puppy dog eyes of hers.

“Something’s happening at the D.E.O. that I might need to be there for,” Oliver answered.

“Oh,” Kara’s eyes cleared, and she nodded before asking hopefully, “can you meet me for lunch?”

Oliver paused, raising an eyebrow. “Kara Danvers, are you asking me on a date?”

“No!” Kara blushed furiously, and Samantha and William exchanged amused looks. “Rao, no, it’s just – if you don’t want to – ”

 _“Kara,”_ Oliver grinned at her. “I’m teasing. I’ll meet you at CatCo, OK?”

“OK,” Kara smiled shyly.

“You, behave,” he pointed at William as he headed for the door.

William’s protests and Kara’s laughter followed him as he left, only to nearly run into Alex, who had obviously been listening in. The knowing look she gave him made him pause, and he groaned. “If you tell my sister, I’m going to kill you.”

“Tell her what?” Alex asked innocently as they left.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen/Winn Schott_ **

Oliver knew something was wrong immediately when Alex stiffened, seeing the extra security at the D.E.O. “What does this mean?” he asked as they jogged towards the entrance.

“Either they caught someone, or the D.E.O. was attacked,” she answered.

“Doesn’t look like they took a hit,” Oliver looked around.

“Alex!” J’onn instantly turned from where he, Winn, Team Arrow, and surprisingly James were gathered in the briefing area. “There you are!”

“Oliver,” Dig sighed, relaxing only slightly. “Thank God.”

“What is it?” Alex asked. “We got here as soon as we could.”

“What happened?” Oliver asked, looking at Malcolm and Slade specifically.

“Jewelry heist last night was pulled by Cadmus,” Malcolm answered. “We took what Kryptonite we found.”

“Did any survive?”

“You offend me, kid,” Slade scoffed. “No, they didn’t.”

“Except for one of the reinforcements that followed,” James added.

“You caught one of them?” Alex’s eyes widened.

“Relatively unharmed, too,” Malcolm nodded.

“Relatively?” Oliver raised an eyebrow.

“Guardian’s catch,” the Dark Archer tilted his head in James’s direction.

“Good job,” Alex told James.

“Got my ass handed to me before then, though,” James gave Slade and Malcolm dirty looks.

“Seriously?” Oliver looked at them in exasperation.

“Never ran into him before,” Slade said nonchalantly. Malcolm just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“It was an eye opener, though,” James sighed, and Alex raised an eyebrow. “I’m ready to start working with the D.E.O. now.”

Alex smirked. “Finally.”

“Hey,” Maggie greeted as she walked up, looking angry.

“Did he talk?” Rene asked eagerly.

“No,” Maggie ground out, leaning against the central console, closing her eyes. “The more I asked, the more he just kept laughing.”

“Insane,” J’onn shook his head, scowling.

“How long have you been at it?” Alex asked.

“At least ten minutes,” Maggie sighed.

“Fourteen,” Felicity checked her watch. “And nineteen seconds.”

Maggie groaned and thumped her head on the console, Dinah patting her shoulder sympathetically. “I’ve had some crazy interrogations, but that one took the cake.”

“So he’s not talking?” Oliver raised an eyebrow.

“No,” Maggie sighed. “And he’s not going to.”

Oliver’s eyes flicked down to the console, where Winn’s tablet was displaying a cell with a man in a Cadmus uniform. His expression turned deadly calm as he walked over to his bag. “Well,” he said as he reached in and pulled out an arrow, twisting it this way and that before pulling out a switchblade as well. “He hasn’t met me yet.”

“Whoa,” Winn backed up at once, James’s eyes widening. “What are _those_ for?”

“He’s going to torture him,” Dig swallowed.

“Are you sure about this?” Nyssa asked carefully.

“What if Kara had been there?” Oliver asked simply.

Dig clenched his jaw at that before turning back to the tablet. Winn looked around nervously before seeming to realize that everyone on Team Arrow, while looking slightly uncomfortable, were not saying anything more. Except for Slade, who tilted a head. “Need a hand, kid?”

Oliver just simply gave a pointed look at the handgun still holstered to his side. Slade nodded back, and Oliver stood. “Where?”

“This way,” Malcolm answered, walking off. Oliver and Slade followed, and after a moment, Laurel slipped after them, snagging a water bottle as she went. Alex looked at J’onn hesitantly before he sighed and nodded. Alex nodded back and ran to catch up to Laurel.

Winn swallowed, turning back to Team Arrow. “Is that guy even going to be _alive_ when they finish?”

Yet again, no one on Team Arrow said anything.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

“Come to try again?” the Cadmus agent sneered when Malcolm entered.

Oliver just stormed over, grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck, and smashed him into the ground. He completely ignored his shout, instead leaning down and growling in what Team Arrow constantly called his ‘Hood voice’ as Slade, Laurel, and Alex entered. “Except this time, you’re going to _want_ to talk.”

The man just laughed, the sound grating all five people’s nerves. “No, I won’t.”

Oliver narrowed his eyes. “Siren? You want to give him one chance?”

Laurel smirked and downed a gulp of her water before holding it out. Slade took it and immediately turned, covering his ears. Oliver did the same, Malcolm and Alex following suit, before Laurel unleashed her sonic scream.

The Cadmus agent yelled in agony, curling up, squirming. Laurel screamed for a good ten seconds before cutting off, narrowing her eyes. “I could do this all day,” she told the Cadmus agent.

He just glared up at her, panting, before spitting on the ground. “Screw you.”

Oliver scowled, then stabbed his blade into the man’s shoulder. The agent yelled, his face turning white as he collapsed. “Hold him down!” Oliver ordered.

Malcolm and Alex instantly did so, keeping the man sprawled. “Oh, you’ve done it now,” Malcolm shook his head.

“You see, Detective Sawyer played the good cop,” Oliver examined his arrow next. “That would normally make me the bad cop. Except, ever since you’ve tried to hurt a very good friend of mine, you’ve made me bad _everything.”_ With that, he stabbed the arrow in the agent’s leg and twisted.

The inhuman howl of pain that came from the agent made Alex turn away, wincing. “Told you,” Malcolm, too, winced. Even when he was the Hood, Oliver hadn’t been this scary.

“Name!” Oliver growled.

“Richards,” the agent gasped for breath, all of it ragged. “Mark Richards.”

“I would say nice to meet you, but I ran out of patience with you a long time ago,” Oliver narrowed his eyes to slits. “So here’s what’s going to happen. Either you talk, or you are going to feel much, _much_ worse than you did just a few seconds ago.”

The agent shook, but managed to spit out again. “Screw . . . you!”

Oliver bristled and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were dark, and filled with an anger that made Alex flinch. “You asked for it.”

* * *

**_Winn Schott/Felicity Smoak_ **

Winn had to turn the audio off. He was green in the face, looking ready to throw up at any moment. Felicity and James didn’t look much better. “He’s really capable of doing that?” James swallowed.

“Oliver doesn’t have a pretty past,” Dig said unnecessarily. “But I’ve never actually seen – or heard him – torture someone before.”

“Not until now,” Quentin looked at the footage before shaking his head. “Funny thing is, I don’t think he would have ever done this to Chase.”

“Chase _wanted_ Oliver to do this to him,” Thea nodded at the footage. “Which is exactly why he was so adamant about not attempting it.”

“OK, can you turn that off?” Curtis grimaced when Oliver made another twisting motion and the agent – Richards, right? – made a gruesome face.

Winn was all too happy to oblige. “We don’t tell Kara this.”

“Good idea,” Felicity winced, pushing up her glasses.

“Hopefully he gets something out of him besides a name,” Dinah sighed, folding her arms.

“A location would be nice,” J’onn pulled up a map of National City. “There’s not many places around National City that Cadmus could be stationed.”

“Well, Oliver’s going to get something, that’s for sure,” Dig snorted, the trill of a cell phone making him blink and look at Felicity in surprise. “Is that yours?”

“Er, yeah,” Felicity frowned, pulling it out. She took one look at the Caller ID before blanching. “Oh, no.”

“What?” Nyssa immediately tensed.

Felicity just hurried to put her phone on speaker and put it in the middle of the console. “Cisco?”

“What time is it there?” Cisco asked in a rush.

“Excuse me?” James blinked.

“10:27,” J’onn answered, checking.

“Oh, my God, please tell me someone’s with Kara at CatCo.”

“What did you see?” Felicity demanded, her face turning even whiter as Dig, Thea, Nyssa, Dinah, Rene, and Curtis scrambled to find their gear. “Cisco, _what did you see?”_

“Can you get to CatCo before half past?”

“That’s a stretch, even for me,” J’onn swallowed hard. “What did you see?”

“They’re gonna attack her at CatCo. I can’t see who, no matter how many times I try. All I can see is the date and time on Kara’s phone, and even then, it was hard to see because of how much . . . ”

“Oh, my God,” Felicity whimpered.

“There’s no way any of us can get there,” Quentin shook his head.

“Frack,” Cisco hissed.

The last thing they heard before the call ended was the metahuman yelling “WALLY!”


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Samantha and William meet Kara's boss, and everything goes to hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's taken me a while to update, guys. There's been a lot of work going on in school, but I'm going to try and be better at updating this.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Kara Danvers/Samantha Clayton_ **

“So you’re a reporter?” Samantha asked as Kara led her and William to her part of CatCo.

“That’s me,” Kara nodded, laughing as she sat down at her desk, patting the chair next to it for William to hop into. “I’m actually the Supergirl correspondent.”

“You’re kidding,” Samantha grinned at her.

“I know!” Kara chortled as she booted up her computer. “But it’s what my boss is happy with, so it’s what I do.”

“Is it difficult?” William asked as he went through his backpack. “Doing articles about Supergirl?”

“It’s definitely weird,” Kara admitted, clicking through emails as Samantha sat on the other side of her. “But at least I know my articles are credible.”

“Even if Snapper is constantly on your case about getting a source other than National City’s hero,” Cat said dryly as she walked up.

“Miss Grant!” Kara jumped, startled, hastily getting to her feet. “Hi!”

“Kiera,” Cat nodded to her before looking from Samantha to William. “I wasn’t aware you were having guests with you this morning.”

“Ah, we came for a surprise visit,” Samantha smiled nervously, looking at Kara. At least it was kind of the truth. Neither Kara nor Oliver had been expecting her and William to come.

“Miss Grant, this is Samantha Clayton and her son William,” Kara introduced them, desperately hoping Cat wasn’t going to pry. “Samantha, William, this is Cat Grant, the CEO of CatCo.”

“Hello,” William said politely, not sure how much he should say after that.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Samantha shook Cat’s hand.

“Considering the both of you look like fish out of water, I assume it’s your first time in National City?” Cat raised an eyebrow.

Kara flinched, absently scratching the back of her head. “Uh, yes,” Samantha looked at Kara worriedly. She had heard before that Oliver and his team didn’t exist on this Earth, so did that mean – ?

“They’re from Star City,” Kara told Cat, nodding at Samantha.

The woman relaxed slightly. OK, so at least the city still existed. That was good to know. “We thought we’d surprise Kara with a visit,” she told Cat with a smile.

“Good,” Cat nodded, surprising Kara. Her next words, however, made her barely refrain from rolling her eyes. “With all the moping she’s been doing, you would think she had been turned into a puppy who lost their mother.”

“Thanks, Miss Grant,” Kara smiled despite herself.

“However, you _have_ been improving slightly since you were rescued,” Cat tilted her head. “My, my, Kiera . . . did Mr. Merlyn have anything to do with that?”

“Kara and Malcolm?” William’s eyes widened. “Really, Mom?”

“No, William, I don’t think that’s the kind of relationship they have,” Samantha shook her head, only to blanch. “Oh, that might have come out wrong.”

“No, Malcolm and I are _not_ together,” Kara quickly assured her. “He’s more like a protective older brother, though.”

“The way he and Slade act sometimes,” Samantha rolled her eyes. “It’s like supervising _children.”_

“Some other friends of Samantha’s came with her from Star City,” Kara told Cat, watching as the mail carrier came around. “Let’s just say . . . several of them are rooting for me and someone else.”

“That’s an understatement,” Samantha smirked. “Did you know there are bets going on?”

Kara gawked at her, stunned. “You’re _kidding.”_

“I kid you not,” Samantha shook her head, laughing as Kara shook her head, taking a manila envelope from the carrier. “I think I heard something about Quentin winning?”

Cat, meanwhile, was frowning. “Are you new?” she asked suddenly.

She said it just as Kara ripped the envelope open. A cloud of green dust blew out, and Kara immediately started choking, grabbing for her throat, her skin draining of color. “Kara!” William cried.

And the carrier suddenly lunged forward and buried a glowing green blade in Kara’s chest.

Kara let out a strangled cry, grabbing for the “carrier’s” wrists, Cat calling out her name as William screamed, terrified. “Night night,” the Cadmus assassin grinned at her, all of the CatCo employees in the area on their feet, some unable to move, some lunging for cameras.

“Please,” Kara could only mouth, already starting to sink her knees.

Then a blue-grey breach snapped into existence, and out through it came streaks of dark yellow lightning. The Cadmus agent was literally thrown across the room, and a young black man in a yellow and red suit that hid his face skidded to a halt, staring down at Kara with an expression of utmost horror, a lightning bolt emblazed on his chest. “Oh, my God,” he stammered.

Next through the breach came a man in dark red and black, gold accents on his suit, eyes shrouded by goggles with a blue tint. “Get her out of here, now!” he shouted. _“Go!”_ The same lightning crackled in the man’s eyes, and he carefully lifted Kara up and took off, papers spinning in tornadoes as he left. The other man, who Samantha finally recognized was the meta who had transported them to Earth-38 in the first place, hurried over to Kara’s desk, carefully picking up the envelope that had the Kryptonite dust in it and placing it in his jacket. “What happened?” Cisco asked, looking from Samantha to William, to Cat who was still staring after where the speedster had gone.

“Uh, that guy, he just handed her the envelope and waited for her to open it,” Samantha gulped, one hand over her mouth, tears in her eyes. “When she did, she must have inhaled some of the dust, and then – and then – ” She choked out a sob, William running to hug her, tears of his own already going down his face.

“They just tried to _murder_ her in her own office,” Cat said with barely held back disgust, making the three from Earth-1 look at her. “Where she _should_ be _safe.”_

“Where did he take her?” William asked.

Cisco seemed to collect himself. “I’ll get you there.”

“If I see one video or photograph leaked, _everyone_ is _fired!”_ Cat shouted at the employees, all of whom were in a sudden hurry on their phones.

Cisco swallowed, then opened up another breach. “Go!”

William scurried through, Samantha and Cat running after him. Cisco took one last look around the office, staring down at the blood pool on Kara’s desk before curling his lip, hauling the Cadmus assassin up, and throwing him through the breach, jumping in after him.

* * *

**_Winn Schott/Oliver Queen/Alex Danvers_ **

“Come on, come on, come on,” Felicity hissed to herself as she dialed on her phone, Winn’s fingers moving a mile a minute as he typed on his tablet. _“Come on!”_

They were interrupted by the sudden gust of wind blowing through the D.E.O. Winn hurried to grab papers that were blowing –

Thea screamed.

It was enough to make him abandon everything and look up. “Oh, God!” he clapped a hand over his mouth to avoid retching.

“Wally!” J’onn immediately ran over to the speedster covered in blood, Kara absolutely drenched in it.

“Where’s medical?” the speedster, named Wally, asked in a panicked voice.

“There!” Rene pointed.

Wally was there in a second, laying Kara down on one of the beds. “Oh, no,” Quentin closed his eyes, seeing the jagged green blade still in Kara’s stomach.

“That needs to go,” Nyssa narrowed her eyes.

“Kara!” Alex’s voice suddenly shrieked, and everyone scattered as Alex barged in, rushing to her sister’s side, shaking all over. “No!”

“When did this happen?” Malcolm demanded, Oliver and Laurel halting in their tracks, eyes wide in shock.

“Literally just a few minutes ago,” Curtis swallowed. “Felicity got a call from Cisco, and then the next thing we knew – ”

The crackling of a breach opening made most people turn, and William stumbled out. “William!” Oliver ran over.

“Where is she?” William asked frantically, trying to see past his father. “Is she alive?”

“William,” Oliver swallowed. “It’s bad. Listen – ”

 _“Miss Grant?”_ James stared in surprise.

Oliver blinked, looking up when Samantha tripped out, followed by an older blonde woman. “Kara’s boss?” Dig blinked in surprise.

“We couldn’t stop her if we tried,” Samantha said apologetically.

“Where is she?” Cat demanded as she stormed forward.

“Miss Grant,” J’onn began.

“One of my best reporters, my former personal assistant, was stabbed right in front of me, and yes, I know who she is,” Cat snapped angrily. “So don’t tell me I can’t see her!”

Samantha yelped suddenly, and everyone turned to see a man get tossed headfirst through the breach, landing with a crunch on the D.E.O. floor. Cisco was out last, and with a curl of his lips, he used his powers to throw the man to Oliver’s feet. “Got a gift for you.”

Oliver’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Slade. Malcolm. Put him with the other one.” One look at the Star City vigilante’s face, and both men didn’t argue. They just roughly handled the limp assassin out of the area. “You called Felicity?” he asked Cisco sharply.

“I vibed Kara being killed,” he nodded, taking off his goggles. “I didn’t know if you would have time to get there or not, and when it sounded like none of them would, I sent Wally through.”

Oliver closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose, listening to monitors wail and Alex’s sharp orders as D.E.O. doctors ran about trying to save Kara. “Thank you,” he finally said.

“No problem, man,” Cisco shook his head at once. “J’onn!” he called, and the Martian started, looking over. “Got two others waiting to come through, if you don’t mind?”

“I doubt I could stop them,” J’onn said dryly.

“The more support for Kara, the better,” Maggie nodded, and Cisco nodded back, jumping through another breach.

An inhuman scream suddenly came from the medbay, making everyone spin around. “Oliver!” Alex shouted.

He immediately pushed through the small crowd in front of the medbay to get to Alex’s side. “Kara?” his eyes widened, seeing she was wide awake.

“Oliver,” she choked, blood coating her lips as she tried to draw in air to breathe.

“I’m here,” he promised, brushing her hair away from her face. “I’m here.” He glared at the glowing green blade that seemed to be taunting them. “When can we get that out of her?”

“That’s what I need you here for,” Alex admitted. “It’s going to hurt like hell, but the sooner it’s out, the sooner we get the sun lamps on her.”

“And the sooner she heals,” Oliver nodded, wincing. “Do it.”

Alex nodded, pulling on a pair of gloves. “Got it.” She chewed her lip. “Can someone help me with the vitals?” she turned and asked, just as Cisco’s breach opened again.

It wasn’t Cisco who came out first. It was Iris West, a squeak coming from her mouth when she saw the amount of blood already starting to stain Oliver’s hands, Kara’s clothes so drenched they were dripping onto the floor. “Oh, no!”

The man who came out with her, clad in black with glasses, was not so frozen. “What’s normal for her?” he asked, pushing through the others.

“Just let me know if anything spikes or drops dramatically,” Alex answered, and he nodded, standing by the computers behind her. “Mags, I need the rest.”

“H.R.?” J’onn asked in surprise as Maggie moved around, gathering supplies to help clean Kara up after Alex was done.

“Not quite,” the man shook his head.

“Meet Harry, the Harrison Wells of Earth-2,” Iris told J’onn before seeming to realize who was practically right next to her. _“Black Siren?!”_

 _“Who?”_ Harry’s head shot up.

“Save her first!” Laurel snapped, pointing at Kara, who was whimpering as Alex started cutting away her shirt to get to the blade easier.

“You’re gonna be OK,” Oliver assured Kara, swallowing when he saw just how gruesome the stab was. Oh, he was going to _butcher_ that assassin when he got the chance.

“Hurts,” Kara whimpered.

“I know, Kara, I know.”

“OK,” Alex took a deep breath, grasping the handle of the knife with one hand. “Three, two – ”

Oliver felt Kara tense in preparation for the end of the countdown, but Alex pulled the blade out on two. She screamed in pain, sounding as if it was ripped from her. One of her hands immediately flew towards the wound now gushing blood, the other scrambling to find something to hold on. Without thinking, Oliver grabbed hers with his. He did cringe at how tight she held on, but it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

Then again, he did have the Kryptonite to blame for that. “Get that thing out of here!” he nodded at the blade.

Wally snatched it from Alex and sped away, Maggie running forward with a few towels. “Stem it as much as you can,” Alex ordered, and Maggie nodded, leaning forward to help. “Get those sun lamps up!”

Winn, Felicity, and Curtis all ran in to help set them up, just as Slade and Malcolm hurried back in. “What did happen to the other guy?” Dinah suddenly asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Malcolm said grimly.

“How is she?” Slade asked.

“They got the blade out,” Dinah answered, clenching one fist as she watched the sun lamps start to power on, Alex and Maggie catching as much blood from Kara as they could, Oliver trying to comfort Kara as much as he could. “Knowing she was hurt is one thing . . . but to see her bleed that much . . . ”

“This was scarier than when we found her at Cadmus,” Laurel admitted.

That gained Iris’s attention. “You guys got her from whoever did this to her?” she asked.

“Me, Slade, Malcolm, and Oliver,” Laurel confirmed. “And . . . ” She closed her eyes. “Well. They certainly had enough Kryptonite to torture her with.”

“Needless to say, we blew up what we could,” Malcom smirked darkly.

“I cannot believe I’m having a halfway decent conversation with supervillains,” Iris mumbled faintly, turning back around.

Laurel raised an eyebrow. “Not too bad, is it?”

Before Iris could answer, there was a nervous “Kara?” from Alex.

“No, no, don’t,” Oliver shook his head when everyone started to worry the moment they saw Kara’s eyes were closed. “She’s just exhausted, and in pain.”

Alex slumped, leaning on the bed. “Relax, Danvers,” Maggie rubbed her back. “I can bandage her up.”

“Let me help,” Nyssa offered.

“Alex, come on,” Oliver reluctantly stepped away from Kara.

As if on automatic, Alex shuffled after him, Nyssa stepping up to help Maggie. “How bad is it?” Quentin finally asked.

“I don’t know how long it’ll be until she gets her powers back,” Alex admitted as Harry joined them. “That blade was in deep, and she lost a ton of blood.”

“She inhaled this,” Cisco pulled an envelope from his jacket, handing it over.

Alex opened it and peered inside. As soon as she saw the green dust in the bottom, she closed her eyes. “They ground up Kryptonite?”

“Never mind monsters,” Slade shook his head. “They’re _idiots.”_

“She’ll be in hysterics when she wakes up,” Oliver warned.

“She’ll want you there when she does,” Alex added.

“I know.” When everyone gave him varying looks of curiosity, he sighed. “Kara told me what happened to her,” he admitted. “And none of it is good.”

“How bad?” Dinah whispered, Samantha and Cat bracing themselves.

“It got to the point where the point of making her bleed was to see what made her bleed most,” Oliver said bluntly.

Iris narrowed her eyes, her temper rising to the surface. She’d never met Cadmus, but she’d heard a bit about them when she’d last seen Kara. They hadn’t been a group Iris liked, and this took the cake. What she was most surprised at, however, were the growls coming from not only J’onn and Dig, but also from Malcolm and Slade. “That’s it,” Laurel threw her hands up, clenching her jaw as she started to pace restlessly. “I need to punch something before I go find them and bring their roofs down on their heads.”

“And you trust her?” Harry asked Oliver with a raised eyebrow.

Oliver raised an eyebrow back. “She owes Kara. And considering none of us are dead after three months of her being in Star City following Lian Yu, I’m trusting her.”

“So either you deal with me being here, or you head back to Earth-1,” Laurel glared at Harry. “I’m not leaving.”

“Actually, that was the plan.”

“What?” Felicity blinked.

“Joe and Julian are back in Central City covering for us right now,” Cisco explained. “I had no idea what exactly happened to Kara, so I asked Harry to come along just in case his help was needed. He and Wally are going back. Iris and I are staying.” Alex opened her mouth to say something, but Cisco shook his head. “We’re doing this for Barry, and because we want to.”

She swallowed, barely holding back tears. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Iris nodded, smiling through tears. “She was like a sister to him. That makes her family to us, too.”

Alex smiled back through tears. “I never knew Barry, but . . . if it’s worth anything, I’m sorry.”

“Well, I know who definitely _is_ sorry,” Malcolm gave Oliver a knowing look. “Or soon _will_ be.”

Oliver’s eyes darkened. “I won’t need you this time.”

“Didn’t expect you would, kid,” Slade nodded.

“What’s he doing?” Cat whispered to James.

“You _really_ don’t want to know,” James grimaced. “Trust me, you don’t.”

“If she shows even a single sign of starting to wake up, say something to pull me out of there,” Oliver ordered, taking off his jacket and throwing it on his bag.

“Say what?” Thea called after him.

“The same thing I said to call her to the monastery,” Oliver shouted back.

“What was that?” Curtis looked around.

“El mayarah,” Rene recalled.

Alex let out a small laugh at that. “Stronger together.”

“OK, if that doesn’t give him away, I don’t know what will,” Thea folded her arms triumphantly.

“Are we seriously having this discussion right now?!” Winn gestured to a limp Kara.

At Team Flash’s confused looks, Dig sighed. “This might take a while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cisco and Iris will be sticking around for the rest of the book. Wally may reappear, but Harry, sadly, has work to do in Central City.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Handed to you all on, as one of my friends called it, an Emerald Steel platter (and quite frankly, I really like that ship name). Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Thea Queen_ **

“So all of you owe Kara a debt because she saved your lives on the island,” Cat folded her arms as she listened. “All of you are here to repay that debt by taking down Cadmus . . . and you’re all _betting_ on when Kara and Oliver become a couple?”

“I owe her twice,” Malcolm corrected.

“That’s it,” Rene nodded.

“They’re totally smitten,” Thea grinned, only to yelp when Iris jabbed her in the arm. “Well, I’m not wrong!”

“That would explain why his son was so concerned when I thought it was her and Malcolm,” Cat recalled.

 _“What?”_ Malcolm blanched, making Slade and Laurel burst out laughing. “No, that’s not happening. Shut up!” he snapped at the other two.

“Meet Kara’s two protective older brothers,” Winn smirked.

“Or at least they act like they are,” Felicity snickered. “Two of the deadliest people here, and they act like children all the time.”

“Hey!” they both protested at the same time.

“We rest our case,” Winn laughed.

“Well, I’m happy Kara has you looking out for her,” Cat smiled. “Now I know why these two,” she gave Winn and James looks, “always seemed to be with her.”

“Yeah,” James rubbed the back of his head, Winn’s attention suddenly on his tablet. “We did use one of the unused office areas for a while.”

“Hmm,” Cat gave them a long look. “I do hope you returned it to its proper condition.”

James and Winn looked between each other. “We did.”

Footsteps from the other direction made them turn. Oliver was emerging from the corridor, the same hardened look in his eyes, except this time, there was a small hint of panic in them. “He must’ve got something,” Maggie said in relief. “If I just badly hurt someone he cared about, and he came to make me talk, I would have been a babbling wreck,” Cisco snorted. “Either that’s what happened, or Oliver didn’t hold anything back.”

When Thea leaned around the others to see Oliver walk up to J’onn, she caught him slipping a very bloody knife out of sight under his jacket. She cringed and turned back around. “Go with Option B.”

“Oh, God,” Samantha closed her eyes.

“Hopefully, that means we’re one step closer to taking down Cadmus,” Iris tried to make everyone optimistic.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

“J’onn,” Oliver nodded curtly to the Martian as he walked up.

“How big of a mess is it?” he asked.

“Messy,” Oliver answered, slipping his knife back into his jacket. “I don’t have a location.”

“But?” J’onn prompted.

“I _do_ have their worst-case scenario option for taking out Supergirl,” Oliver smirked; J’onn knew him too well. “Unfortunately, it means not all of us will be suited up. At least, not in the way we’d like to be.”

“What?”

“Their worst-case scenario is taking Kara out in full view of National City’s elite,” Oliver answered. “Lena’s party.”

J’onn closed his eyes. “And as Lillian’s daughter, it’ll look like Lena was in on it.”

“Yes.”

J’onn sighed. “I better go inform Miss Luthor.” He caught Oliver’s gaze sliding towards the medical bay, and he nodded. “Alex hasn’t moved for two hours.”

“I’ll tell her,” Oliver volunteered.

“Go on,” J’onn nodded. Oliver nodded back, heading to where Alex was still sitting by Kara’s side.

* * *

**_J'onn J'onzz_ **

“Got something?” Quentin guessed as J’onn approached where everyone else was gathered.

“Oliver didn’t get a location, but he got something just as crucial,” J’onn nodded. “Their worst-case scenario for outing Kara and killing her at the same time.”

“You’re kidding,” Curtis’s jaw dropped.

“No,” J’onn shook his head. “It will also ensure the Luthor name keeps its negative connotation.”

Cat narrowed her eyes. “The L-Corp party for Supergirl.”

“Yes,” he nodded, making Rene groan and Dig facepalm. “And currently, our only advantage is that we know they’ll be there.”

“It’s better than nothing,” Winn pointed out.

“Did Oliver get anything else?” James asked.

“No,” J’onn shook his head. “To be honest, I’m a bit skeptical to go back to the cells.”

“That bad?” Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

“That bad,” he confirmed.

“Well, I’m not sure how much the NCPD can do,” Maggie sighed. “But I don’t need to be at the party.”

“I think it’s a given that Oliver’s going to attach himself to Kara’s side and not leave her at all,” Cisco smirked.

“They look good together, at least,” Thea smirked.

“Well, don’t tell him that,” Quentin snorted.

“This does nothing to change my mind about going,” Cat looked around at everyone. “Ever since Kara became Supergirl, CatCo – and I – have been among her biggest supporters. I’ll be making an appearance even if I have to drag around a protection detail.”

“We won’t stop you,” J’onn assured her, a new respect for the media mogul in his eyes. “Mr. Olsen, you’ll be going as well, I assume?”

“Yes,” James nodded. “Miss Grant, Kara, and I were the only ones invited from CatCo to attend.”

“And Oliver we can already jot down for being there, too,” Thea added.

“So who’s the team with Kara, and who’s the team suiting up?” Dig looked around.

“I will be on the team with backup,” Nyssa volunteered first. “I would stand out quite a bit.”

“Guess that puts me there, too,” Slade smirked.

“I’ll go with Kara,” Malcolm raised a hand, taking a look at his cybernetic one and snorting. “That can be hid decently.”

“And if not,” Laurel folded her arms, “I’ll be there to take the eyes off it.”

“Laurel Lance is my date,” Malcolm shook his head, rolling his eyes to the sky. “I never thought I would ever say that.”

“Yeah, and I’m her father,” Quentin snorted. “Or, sort of.”

“Still my father,” Laurel assured him with a smile.

“Two of you could always be Miss Grant’s ‘security detail,’” Maggie suggested.

All eyes immediately went to Dig, who rolled his eyes. “Guess I know where I’m going.”

“Rene can go with you, too,” Dinah told him. “Two sonic screams at the party might not be the best idea.”

“At least I know it won’t end up being boring,” Rene shrugged. “Why not?”

“Well, I’m not fighting,” Iris held up her hands. “You know where I’ll be.”

“I can be with Felicity here on comms,” Quentin looked around. “The more eyes in the sky, the better.”

“Curtis?” Dig looked at him.

“I might take that offer, too,” Curtis admitted. “Besides, if worse comes to worst, there can always be a backup group to come in.”

“Good idea,” J’onn nodded. “Miss Queen?”

“Put me with the team suiting up,” Thea answered after a while. “I’ll let Ollie stick to the party.”

“So Oliver, Malcolm, Laurel, Dig, and Rene are gonna be on the floor with Kara, James, and Miss Grant, and Slade, Nyssa, Thea, and Dinah will be watching their backs,” Winn made a few notes on his tablet. “Lance, Curtis, and Iris are gonna be here with Felicity and I, but they can take a group and head out if they need to.”

“Sounds like a plan,” James nodded.

“I can have a van near the party with all your equipment,” Maggie told them.

“I’ll call Miss Luthor,” J’onn nodded. “Once again, thank you for your help in taking down this organization.”

“Anything to help Kara,” Dig nodded. “She showed up _twice_ when we needed her help, and she expected nothing in return. I think this is a small price to pay.”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Oliver walked into the medbay, seeing Alex with her elbows on her knees, her eyes alternating between the computer monitors and her sleeping sister. “Hey,” he put a hand on her shoulder.

Alex jumped slightly, looking up. “Hey,” she answered, rubbing her eyes. “She hasn’t moved.”

“I didn’t think she’d be up and walking right away after a wound like that,” Oliver told her, absently rubbing his own chest. “Samantha said she might have inhaled Kryptonite, too, which might take some time to work out.”

“God,” Alex rubbed her temples. “I just want to double tap Lillian Luthor in the head right now.”

“Race you,” Oliver smirked, only half joking. It sort of worked – Alex smiled slightly, making Oliver smile as well as he sat on Kara’s other side. “They’re going to be at Lena’s party.”

“You’re kidding,” Alex’s jaw dropped.

“I wish,” Oliver shook his head. “And unfortunately, that’s all we know.”

Alex groaned, putting her face in her hands. “She _cannot_ lay off Kara for _one minute,_ can she?”

Oliver shook his head silently. “I think the others are making plans for that night. You’ve been here for a long time, Alex. I can stay with her.”

Alex hesitated. “But – ”

“OK, let me rephrase that,” Oliver stood up, walked to her side, and took her arm, hauling her out of her seat. “I’m going to stay with her. You go relax.” He mockingly pushed Alex towards the others and called, “Maggie! Make sure your fiancée doesn’t do anything stupid!”

“Do you know the Danvers girls?” Maggie shouted back, even as she grinned and went to take Alex’s hand.

Oliver rolled his eyes and walked back into the medbay, hearing Thea and Felicity laugh. “Funny,” he grumbled as he sat back down. “Very funny.” He put his hand on top of Kara’s, watching her for any signs of motion. She shifted once in her sleep, and a glint of reflected light on her neck caught his eye. Despite himself, he leaned forward curiously, having never noticed the necklace Kara wore.

Perhaps it was because it was so simple, he considered. It was a simple silver chain, long enough that it could be hidden by Kara’s shirt and suit. Now it was lying in plain view, and Oliver tilted his head when he saw what was on the end of the chain. It appeared to be white gold, and the only stone on it was the diamond in the center . . . which appeared to have something carved _inside_ it, if Oliver tilted his head correctly. Still, he wasn’t about to reach over and find out what it was . . .

He felt her hand twitch, but attributed it to her dreaming in her sleep. That was until her fingers curled around his hand and he heard her croak, “Oliver?” “Kara,” he breathed in relief, scooting his chair forward and squeezing her hand. “Oh, thank God!”

“Hurts,” she whimpered.

“It’s OK,” he assured her, watching her eyes flick around the medbay in slight panic. “Hey, look at me. Look at me, angel.” Her eyes snapped back to his, slightly wide, and Oliver reached up, putting his free hand on her cheek. “You’re safe,” he promised. “Wally and Cisco got to you before you – ” The word stuck in the back of his throat.

“Before I died?” Kara finished, her voice crackling slightly.

“Yeah,” Oliver cleared his throat. “Before that. They got you here, and Alex managed to get the blade out of you.” He looked up at the sun lamps still beaming down on her. “You lost a ton of blood.”

Kara closed her eyes again, leaning back. “At CatCo,” she said numbly, tears in her eyes. “They attacked me at _work.”_ She gasped, eyes widening again as she moved to sit up. “Samantha and William?!”

“Whoa!” Oliver straightened, hands going to her shoulders when she groaned in pain, her hands reaching for her stomach. “Hey, easy! Easy. Come on.” Kara winced, nodding as he helped her settle back. “They’re fine,” he promised. “Them, and Miss Grant.” He smirked. “Your boss is actually slightly terrifying.”

“Yes, she is,” Kara nodded absently before blanching. “Miss Grant?!”

“Has promised not to say a thing,” he assured her, and Kara closed her eyes, relaxing at the statement. “She threatened to fire everyone who saw the incident if they shared anything.”

A smile formed on Kara’s face when he said that. “That is _so_ Miss Grant.” She opened her eyes, looking at him. “The guy that did this to me?”

Oliver took a sudden interest in the sun lamps. “Well . . . he’s off much worse than the guy Slade and Malcolm brought in last night.”

Kara gave him a look. “Oliver. He’s dead, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” he admitted.

Kara closed her eyes, leaning back. “Did he at least give you anything?”

“He did,” Oliver nodded, but didn’t say anything more.

Kara opened her eyes again, frowning at him. “That’s your cue to tell me what he told you.”

“You’re not going to like it,” he warned.

“I don’t like anything about Cadmus in general, Oliver. I can take it.”

Oliver sighed. “They’re going to try and kill you and out you at the same time.” She looked at him in shock, and Oliver nodded. “They’re going to be at the L-Corp fundraiser.”

“Oh, Rao,” Kara’s eyes filled with tears. “Lena . . . ”

“J’onn’s letting her know,” Oliver told her. “And we’re not going to let anything happen to you.” He took her hand again. _“I’m_ not going to let anything happen to you.”

Kara smiled slightly. “I guess this ruined our lunch date.”

Oliver tilted his head. “I thought you said that wasn’t going to be a date.”

“Well . . . ” It was Kara’s turn to take a sudden interest in the sun lamps, and Oliver couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he stood up. “Maybe not a _date,_ but – ”

She was cut off when Oliver kissed her, effectively shutting her up. It also didn’t take long for her to kiss him back, though when she tried to sit up, she broke it with a gasp, wincing in pain. Oliver quickly helped ease her back. “I think that tells you I certainly wouldn’t have minded if it was a date,” he grinned at her.

“Maybe I was kind of hoping,” Kara blushed slightly, absently playing with her fingers.

“Then when you get out of here, I’m taking you on a proper one,” Oliver told her, smirking. “I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to kiss you before the first date.”

Kara turned even redder. “I didn’t mind.”

Oliver smiled. “The second one can be the L-Corp fundraiser.”

“Wouldn’t want anyone else there,” she beamed at him.

Of course, the moment was ruined when they heard Thea shout, “Dig and Malcolm win!”

Kara groaned, closing her eyes. “You have _got_ to be _kidding_ me.”

Oliver rolled his eyes, walking over to the door of the medbay. “Shut up!” he shouted at them before slamming the door shut.

“Much better,” she giggled as he walked back over.

“Problem solved,” he smirked.

She smiled at him, then shifted slightly on the bed. Getting the hint, Oliver sat on the edge, putting his arm around Kara’s back and helping her sit slowly up. She winced a few times, but she settled enough to curl into his side, tucking her head under his chin. “Much more comfortable,” she mused.

He chuckled, kissing the top of her head. “You scared the hell out of me . . . and I was in hell for five years.”

“Sorry,” she bit her lip. “I didn’t plan on being killed today.”

Oliver tilted his head, seeing her start to play with the ring around her neck. “I saw that earlier,” he told her. “What is it?” Kara glanced down. When she paled slightly, Oliver quickly shook his head. “You don’t need to tell me.”

“I had two things with me when I came to Earth from Krypton,” she whispered. “I had a necklace my mom gave me . . . and Dad gave me a ring he would have given me when I turned nineteen.” She flipped the ring over onto her palm. “It has the crest of the House of El engraved inside it.”

She tilted the ring just right, and Oliver’s eyes widened when he saw the S from Kara’s suit glint up at him. “That’s incredible.”

“I gave my mom’s necklace to Mon-El when he left,” Kara told him. “So I started wearing the ring from my dad instead.”

Oliver smiled sadly. “You miss him.”

“I think I always will,” Kara looked up at him. “I loved him, and it’s my fault he had to leave. But I pulled through it.” She smiled. “You helped with that. All of you did. I was nearly so consumed with him leaving, and then you needed my help. And I could do that. I could help you  when you needed me to . . . and I needed it, too. I needed some way to get my anger out, but I don’t think I realized until Thea nearly lost Malcolm that I needed someone to talk to about Mon-El. I couldn’t let his loss keep me from my family and friends. It nearly did. So when I got back to National City, I tried to balance Supergirl and Kara Danvers again. It allowed me to tell Lena who I was, and thank God she understood.” She fiddled with her ring again. “I think if I hadn’t gone to Lian Yu, I would still be moping around.”

“I can’t see you moping,” Oliver snorted.

“Oh, I moped like you wouldn’t believe,” Kara nodded. “On the rare occasions I was in the office being Kara Danvers, I wrote my articles at Supergirl speed so I could get back to saving the city. I literally tried to do everything. I abandoned Kara Danvers for Supergirl. It wasn’t . . . healthy.” She looked up at him, smiling bashfully. “So remind me to thank the entire team when I get out of here for helping me snap out of it.”

“On behalf of the team, you’re welcome,” Oliver smiled, kissing the top of her head. “And you can tell the team in person when you don’t need these sun lamps anymore, because no offense, but you still look like hell.”

“Thanks,” Kara muttered, halfheartedly slapping his chest. Oliver laughed, helping her lie back down. He stood back up, but with speed that defied her condition, she grabbed his hand. “Don’t leave?” she asked hopefully.

Oliver blinked, then chuckled. “Oh, Kara,” he kissed her knuckles, sitting down in the chair next to the bed. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

Kara just smiled radiantly at him, readjusting their hands so it was more comfortable for her before she closed her eyes, Oliver there to watch over her.

They could worry about Cadmus later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ship has sailed, ladies and gentlemen!


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team reacts to Kariver, Kariver gets their first official date, there's another "Zari" reference, and something bad happens. Again. Seriously, something bad happens almost every chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Kara Danvers_ **

For having a Kryptonite wound, Kara recovered rather quickly. She was up and moving again within two days, though Oliver and Alex were both watching her like hawks. Oliver, she didn’t mind at all. Alex, on the other hand, started getting slightly annoying . . . especially since she was smirking most of the time. “If you say ‘I told you so,’” Kara began with a growl as she left the medbay, finally released.

“What, you’re not going to make me maid of honor?” Alex teased.

“Shut up!” Kara punched her in the arm, blushing furiously.

“Hey, we get every right to say we told you so,” Thea grinned smugly. “Just let us have this.”

Kara sighed, adjusting her glasses. “Fine.”

“Hey, c’mere,” Thea held out her arms, and Kara smiled, shuffling forward and giving Thea a hug. “I’m happy for you both, really.”

“Thanks, Thea,” Kara smiled.

“So, do any of us need to be grownups and give you two the ‘you hurt the other, we’ll hurt you’ spiel?” Malcolm asked with a smirk on his face.

“Really, Malcolm?” Kara looked at him in exasperation. “Seriously?”

“Well, it would be J’onn’s job to give it to Oliver,” Winn said thoughtfully.

“Oh, Rao,” Kara buried her face in her hands. “Stop it!”

“On a more serious note,” a voice from behind them said, and they turned as Lena walked up, a serious look on her face. “I tried to get in touch with my mother. Every single piece of contact information I had is now worthless.”

“Lena, I am so sorry about this,” Kara swallowed hard.

“You don’t get to do that to yourself,” Lena gave her a stern look. “This fundraiser is for you, and it’s to help the D.E.O. as well. Cadmus or no Cadmus, I’m holding it anyway.”

Kara swallowed again. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Lena smiled, giving her a hug. “What are best friends for?”

* * *

**_Lillian Luthor_ **

“First our main Kryptonite hub was destroyed, Supergirl was rescued from under our noses, and now _two_ of my best assassins are down,” Lillian snapped as she entered a dark control center, a man with cybernetic pieces on his head turning to her as she walked up. “And why is that alien bitch _still_ not dead?”

“It appears the D.E.O. has new vigilantes in their ranks,” Henshaw answered, gesturing to a few monitors. “We have counted four from when the Kryptonian was rescued, three more at the jewelry store heist, and a further two from CatCo.”

“Vigilantes,” Lillian scoffed in disgust. “And what of her human identity?”

“I believe one connection has been made, at the alien bar,” Henshaw answered, pulling up the image of a dark-haired man clad in a suit fighting with knives. “We have yet to discover his identity, but this image was also pulled from CatCo.”

Lillian tilted her head when she saw a casually-dressed brunette woman with a boy about twelve just behind Danvers’ desk. “Do we have their identities?”

“No,” Henshaw shook his head. “We do not. But they _are_ associated with Supergirl.” Lillian frowned thoughtfully, and Henshaw considered her. “What do we do now, Miss Luthor?”

Lillian smirked. “We pick a target.”

* * *

**_Lena Luthor/Thea Queen_ **

“I brought these blueprints for the venue, and these are the records I found of all the guests attending,” Lena handed two flash drives to Winn, who handed one to Felicity, both of them turning to their computers to get to work. “I have yet to hear anything about the security I have planned.”

“Thank you, Miss Luthor,” J’onn said gratefully.

“Of course,” Lena nodded. “I haven’t found anything to suggest one of the guests has a connection to Cadmus, but, then again, I have been wrong before. Who can I mark down as attending with Kara, James, and Miss Grant?”

“Me, Malcolm, Laurel, John, and Rene,” Oliver answered as he walked up. “And if you say you joined in on any of the bets running about when Kara and I would get together . . . ”

“I did no such thing,” Lena promised with a smirk, making Oliver roll his eyes. “Can I say it doesn’t surprise me?”

“That’s not so bad,” Oliver admitted.

“Because it honestly doesn’t,” Lena said as she and Oliver walked off, letting Winn and Felicity babble and compare their drives. “I’ve never seen Kara smile like she has since you arrived.”

“The rest of the team might have had something to do with that, too,” Oliver pointed out.

“That’s true,” Lena conceded. “But she also looked brighter these last few days. Even when she was with Mon-El, she never looked this happy.” She smiled when she saw Kara swat at Rene, who nimbly ducked her swing while Dinah laughed. “I’m happy for both of you.”

“Well, it’s thanks to you that we knew what we were doing when we first came here,” Oliver told her.

“Oh, don’t mention it,” Lena waved it off. “Anything to help annoy my mother. She’s done enough damage to aliens as it is.”

“No kidding,” Oliver sighed, walking up to Kara. “Alex let you out?”

“Finally,” Kara nodded, tentatively leaning against him. When he put his arm around her shoulder, she smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. “I hate medbays.”

“And I hate hospitals, so that’s another thing we’ve got in common,” Oliver smirked.

“Aww,” Thea and Alex teased in unison.

“Shut up,” Oliver and Kara groaned.

“Hey, Kara,” James smiled as he walked in. “Good to see you up and moving.”

“Thanks, James,” Kara smiled back. “Now can you stop these guys from teasing us?”

“You could always leave,” Maggie pointed out.

“Yeah, Miss Grant gave you time off as long as you helped write a report about the L-Corp fundraiser,” Lena nodded.

“And since the only parts of National City I feel like I’ve seen have been L-Corp, CatCo, and your apartment,” Oliver tilted his head back and forth. “I’m not counting the bar you were nearly killed in.”

“Touring the city it is,” Kara grinned.

“I want you home by midnight!” Alex called teasingly.

“I am going to _kill_ you!” Kara groaned, even as Oliver laughed and went to grab his jacket, Kara already heading for the door.

“Same with you, Ollie!” Thea grinned, making everyone laugh.

“Honest to God, Thea, I will!” Oliver pointed at her before heading after Kara.

“Hmm,” Malcolm watched them go, tilting his head as Winn and Felicity walked up. “They _do_ look good together.”

“I don’t know who to give the ‘you hurt them, I hurt you’ speech to,” Laurel mused.

“Protective much?” Winn asked.

 Malcolm growled in annoyance. “Oh, go back to playing with your fidget spinner!”

Winn sputtered, eyes wide, as everyone else in the room burst out laughing as Malcolm and Laurel left. “I do _not_ play with fidget spinners!”

“Believe me, that is _not_ the weirdest thing a deadly vigilante could say,” James snorted.

“Oh?” Dig raised an eyebrow. “What is?”

“I think Slade would actually kill me if I repeated it.”

Quentin’s eyebrows shot up. “That entertaining, was it?”

James sighed. “You could say that.”

* * *

**_Kara Danvers_ **

“One thing that never ceases to surprise me,” Oliver mused as he and Kara walked hand in hand down a busy street in National City.

“What?” Kara looked at him curiously.

“How every city seems to be so much brighter and a much bigger delight than Star City,” he shook his head.

Kara burst out laughing. _“That’s_ what amazes you the most about National City? We’re brighter than Star?”

“Well, I might be biased,” Oliver shrugged, smirking at her.

“Oh, points to you for that,” Kara giggled, making Oliver grin smugly. “Still . . . dark and gorgeous isn’t that bad.”

“Excuse me?” Oliver laughed.

“Oh, my God, did I just say that out loud?” Kara blushed beet red, fiddling with her glasses.

“If you think you just said ‘dark and gorgeous,’ yes, you did,” Oliver grinned at her, making Kara blush even redder. “You really are adorable, you know that, right?”

“So everyone seems to tell me when I say something like that,” Kara mumbled, biting her lip. “Sorry.”

“I feel like we just used each other to describe our cities,” Oliver chuckled.

“So the city reflects the hero?” Kara nodded thoughtfully. When she saw Oliver open his mouth to say something, she gave him a look. “That is _not_ up for debate. You will lose that argument before you even start it.”

“Kara,” Oliver sighed.

“You jumped over _three dozen_ Earths to come here and save me,” Kara jabbed a finger in his chest. “And sure, the others followed, but you’ve had my back the entire time. You are willing to do _anything_ to keep me alive and safe. You’re a hero to me.” He stared at her for a long time, and Kara fiddled with her glasses again. “Rao, I can’t say anything right today, can I?”

“You said the right things to end an argument before it began,” Oliver shook his head, a mixture of bewilderment and awe in his eyes. “How do you _do_ that?”

“I’m a reporter?” Kara phrased it as more of a question.

“No, I stand by what I called you earlier,” Oliver shook his head. “Definitely an angel.”

“Stop it,” Kara mumbled, biting her lip bashfully.

“If you dislike it that much, then make me,” Oliver challenged. When Kara didn’t say anything, he chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “Knew it.”

“Oh, give me a break,” Kara sighed, even as she leaned her head on his shoulder as they continued to walk, Oliver releasing her hand and putting his arm around her shoulders instead. They went a few steps before she spoke again. “You know what the weirdest part about this is?”

“Oh, no,” Oliver mock sighed.

“No, no, it’s a good weird,” Kara hastened to assure him. When he raised an eyebrow at her, she continued. “This . . . you and me? It doesn’t feel weird. This is . . . what, the third time we’ve had any interactions whatsoever?”

“The Dominators, Lian Yu, this,” Oliver nodded.

“And it doesn’t feel . . . I don’t know, unnatural,” Kara nodded. “I don’t feel uncomfortable. It’s . . . ” She seemed to struggle for a word to say before groaning. “You know, ‘nice’ does not cut it.”

“Right?” Oliver tilted his head.

“I know!”

“No,” Oliver shook his head, chuckling. “It feels right.”

“Oh,” Kara blinked. “Yeah, that works.”

Oliver pulled her closer to him, smiling. “It does feel a bit odd. But definitely a good odd.”

“Definitely,” Kara beamed up at him.

* * *

**_William Clayton_ **

“Awesome!” William grinned when Samantha brought their ice creams outside.

“You can thank Kara later,” she smiled at her son, handing him his cone and sitting across from him. “She recommended it. Apparently, this was where the ‘girls’ day’ was.”

“When there was the bank robbery _and_ the jewelry heist?” William asked.

“Mmmhmm,” Samantha nodded.

William considered his ice cream cone, licking it before looking at his mother. “Mom?”

“What?” she asked, tilting her head.

William fidgeted slightly. “Nothing’s going to happen to Kara . . . right? She’s not going to actually die?”

“Of course not,” Samantha shook her head. “Oliver won’t let that happen. _No one_ is going to let that happen.”

William looked down, biting his lip. “But what if Dad gets hurt because of it?” he asked. “I mean, if it wasn’t for Kara taking down that bad man . . . ”

“William,” Samantha reached over to put a hand on his. “There is no way they’re going to let the other get hurt. They’re going to make it out of this. We all will.”

William looked up at her. “Promise?”

“Promise,” Samantha smiled, taking a bite of her ice cream. William smiled back, licking his cone again.

There was a sharp crack in the air, and William jolted when he felt a sharp gust of wind go by his face. At first he looked around, trying to find the bird that flew past him.

But then he heard people screaming, heard a chair collapse.

It took him less than two seconds to realize the chair that had toppled had been his mother’s. “Mom?” he dropped his cone, standing up. When he saw what had happened, his eyes widened. _“Mom!”_

Samantha’s ice cream cup was abandoned on the ground, dripping and melting onto the pavement. Dark chocolate liquid mixed with a much thicker red liquid, which was steadily growing in amount as the seconds passed.

Across the street from the rooftops, Hank Henshaw lifted his gaze from his sniper rifle, a small smirk on his face.

In front of the ice cream shop, William screamed and begged his mother to come back as patrons around him started dialing 911, crouching and trying to feel for a pulse.

On the ground, Samantha Clayton’s eyes were unseeing as she stared up into the sky, a clean entrance wound where her heart was, red pooling under her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate saying this, but Samantha kind of had to die. William staying with Oliver is a HUGE part of Season 6 in Arrow, which wouldn't have been possible if Samantha stayed alive.
> 
> So . . . sorry, Samantha.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Samantha's death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_J'onn J'onzz_ **

“Have you two got anything?” J’onn asked Winn and Felicity as he walked into the control room with Slade, Malcolm, and Laurel behind him.

“Nothing on any of the guests,” Felicity shook her head. “I mean, nothing relating them to Cadmus. So unless Lillian walks up to one of them beforehand, hands them a stick of Kryptonite and says ‘get close to this one blonde reporter,’ and they do it, they’re not a threat.”

“It looks like there are some places that Kryptonite _could_ be hidden while looking at these blueprints,” Winn said thoughtfully, pulling them up on the larger screen. “It’ll be easy to aim sensors at the venue and do a scan for it, though.”

“So what the hell would Cadmus be able to attempt there?” Slade narrowed his eye.

Something on Winn’s computer blared, making everyone turn to him. “Agent Schott!” J’onn growled.

“OK, that was police radios going haywire,” Winn pounced on his keyboard, typing rapidly. “Reports of a gun being fired . . . just the one shot,” he frowned. “That’s odd.”

“Any casualties?” Malcolm asked.

“It sounds like just one,” Winn answered.

“Why just one gunshot?” Felicity wondered.

* * *

**_Kara Danvers/Oliver Queen_ **

Kara jerked upright suddenly, making Oliver stop. “Kara?” She narrowed her eyes, an intense look of concentration on her face. “What is it?”

Kara closed her eyes, straining her hearing to all it was worth. She had heard the gunshot, heard all the 911 calls . . . but there was something else . . . something . . .

_“Mom! Mom!”_

Her eyes flew open, and she gasped, hand covering her mouth. “Kara!” Oliver pulled her off to the side before pedestrians bumped into them. “What is it?”

“Get back to the D.E.O.,” she swallowed, looking around. “I need to go.”

“Go,” Oliver nodded at once, understanding this was a Supergirl job. “I’ll meet you there.”

Kara nodded, running into an alley nearby. Oliver turned back the way they had come, pulling out his phone, when he heard several people gasp. He turned around, reaching for the knife he had in his jacket, but smiled when he saw Kara, in full Supergirl regalia, fly out of the alley and off into the city. “That’s my girl,” he said smugly, turning and walking on.

* * *

**_Kara Danvers_ **

Kara made it to the scene far before any police cruisers did. She landed in the street, running up to the sidewalk, desperately hoping what she had heard was wrong.

When she saw William crying and holding Samantha’s body, Samantha deadly still, blood staining her clothes and William’s hands, her heart shattered.

She swallowed and walked up, crouching by William. “William,” she whispered, putting her hand on his shoulder.

“She’s not dead,” he sniffed, shaking his head. “She can’t be!”

“William,” Kara insisted as gently as she could.

“She’s not!”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice choking slightly. William let out a sob, burying his head in Samantha’s hair, and Kara rubbed his back slightly, chewing her lip. “I can stay until Maggie gets here,” she said quietly to him. “But then I’ve got to take her to the D.E.O. You don’t exist on this Earth, William. Maggie can bring you back.”

William couldn’t do anything but sniff and nod, and Kara hugged him, allowing him to cry into her shoulder.

* * *

**_Maggie Sawyer_ **

Maggie cursed when her phone rang as she drove her cruiser through National City, pulling it out angrily. “What?” she barked.

“Kara just left a few seconds ago,” Oliver’s voice told her, and Maggie straightened. “She seemed worried. What’s going on?”

“Reports of a single gunshot fired, one casualty,” Maggie answered, stepping on the accelerator more. “I’m about thirty seconds out. Thanks for telling me she’s there.”

“No problem.”

Maggie hung up, pulling up to the correct address, swallowing when she realized it was the same ice cream shop they had hung out at just a few days ago. She hurried out of her car, hand on her gun, and stopped dead at the sight in front of her, eyes wide.

Kara looked up at Maggie miserably, her arms tight around William, who was sobbing . . . and around Samantha, her clothes soaked in blood. “Holy shit,” she finally uttered.

Kara made to stand up, but William shook his head desperately, and she sank back to the ground. “Maggie,” she whispered, and the cop hurried over as other cars started to arrive. “I’ve got to get her out of here, but William . . . ”

“Don’t,” William shook his head, clinging to Kara’s arm like it was a lifeline. “Please don’t!”

Kara deflated slightly. “Sorry,” she apologized to Maggie.

“Go,” Maggie told her. “Just tell J’onn or Alex they’ll need to get to the precinct with a good cover story.”

Kara nodded, then shifted slightly. “William, hold on tightly,” she ordered. William nodded, wrapping her arms around her neck, and Kara stood, one arm around William’s waist, the other supporting Samantha. Maggie backed up slightly, watching her take off.

* * *

**_Alex Danvers/Kara Danvers_ **

“Whoa!” Cisco jerked back from the balcony when a blur of red and blue flew over his head. “Whoa! Hello! Girl of Steel inbound!”

“Must’ve been the 911 call,” Iris turned. “Where’s she heading?”

“One of the back rooms,” Alex frowned, running in that direction. “Supergirl!”

“She’s back?” Winn perked up as they ran past the control hub.

“Yeah, she’s back, but she didn’t stop to chat!” Alex ran on, knowing she had a pack of Earth-1 vigilantes behind her. “Kara!” she shouted, heading towards one of the rooms with an open door. “What’s going – ”

She froze in the doorway, gasping and putting a hand over her mouth. “Alex?” Nyssa asked, only to stop short when she saw what was going on.

“Oh, God,” Quentin closed his eyes.

Kara turned to them, tears in her eyes as she gently placed Samantha’s body down on the table in the middle of the room, William clinging to her desperately. “I couldn’t leave her for the police to find her,” she explained quietly, putting her arms around William. “William didn’t want me to leave.”

“Oh, no,” James swallowed hard as the rest of the group filed in.

“Samantha,” Thea breathed in disbelief, walking over as if in a trance.

“I heard the shot, and I heard the 911 calls,” Kara said miserably, one hand over her mouth. “And then I heard William, and . . . ” She shook her head. “I couldn’t tell Oliver, not until I was sure. He should be on his way back here.”

“I’ll go let him know,” Dig said quietly, backing out of the room.

 “I’ll call Detective Sawyer, tell her what to say,” J’onn added. “Alex?”

“I’m sorry, William,” Alex rubbed William’s back softly. He didn’t respond as everyone else slowly trickled out of the room.

Kara made to leave as well, but William lunged for her hand. “No,” he shook his head stubbornly.

“William,” Kara began.

“Please, don’t go,” William insisted, starting to sniffle again. _“Please.”_

Kara closed her eyes. “OK,” she agreed quietly, pulling out a few chairs for them to sit in. As soon as they were sitting, William pulled his chair as close to Kara as he could get, and Kara swallowed hard as she wrapped her arms around the poor boy as he curled into her for comfort. “OK.”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Oliver walked into the D.E.O. right when J’onn stormed into the command hub, practically snarling. “I want every satellite scanning for Cadmus activity, now!”

“Yes, sir!” Winn dove for his chair, Felicity, Curtis, and Cisco doing the same thing.

“The shooting was Cadmus related?” Oliver asked as Dig walked up to him.

“Cadmus did the shooting,” Dig answered, a somber look on his face. “We know that for sure.”

“How?” Oliver asked. When Dig hesitated, Oliver paused. “John . . . ”

“Because of who they killed,” Dig finally answered. “It was Samantha, Oliver. The shot killed her immediately.”

Oliver froze, eyes wide. “Samantha?” he asked quietly, almost inaudibly. When Dig nodded, Oliver closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s why Kara didn’t say anything about what she heard.”

“She said she needed to be sure before she told you,” Dig nodded. “She’s pretty shaken up about it, too.”

“And William?” Oliver looked up, face pale. “John, is he OK?”

“He’s fine, he’s not hurt,” Dig assured him, and Oliver sagged in relief. “But man, he’s in bad shape. He’s basically attached himself to Kara. Neither of them have left her yet.”

Oliver swallowed. “Where are they?”

* * *

**_Kara Danvers_ **

Kara and William were still sitting the same way when there was a quiet knock on the door. Kara looked up and over, her eyes immediately tearing up again when she saw Oliver silently walk in, shutting the door behind him. “Oh, my God,” he whispered in disbelief, looking at Samantha.

“I didn’t even hear a thing before the shot,” Kara swallowed, shaking slightly. “And then I heard William crying, and I thought I knew what I was going to find, but I didn’t want to say it . . . not until I saw it.”

“You don’t need to explain,” Oliver squeezed her shoulder before pulling up another chair in front of them. He looked down at his son, who looked back at him with red eyes, and sighed. “I’m going to say I’m sorry, even though I know that won’t cut it at all.”

“She promised we were all going to make it before she . . . ” William swallowed. “She promised right before. She lied.”

“William, your mom didn’t plan on dying in front of you,” Oliver shook his head. “She didn’t lie to you. She intended on making it out of this alive. She wouldn’t have left you if she had a say in this.”

“This is my fault,” Kara whispered.

Both of them looked at her. “What?” William blinked.

“Kara,” Oliver sighed.

“No, you’re all here because of me,” Kara shook her head, rubbing at tear tracks on her face. “If you guys hadn’t come – ”

“Then you would be dead,” Oliver said bluntly, making Kara wince. “And do you have any idea how much that would have hurt to learn?” Kara ducked her head, and Oliver reached over, cupping her face. “Kara, look at me.” She slowly lifted her head, and Oliver stroked her cheek with his thumb. “We are here because we _chose_ to be here,” he told her. “Nothing you could have said would have stopped me or my team from coming. I tried to convince Samantha and William to go back to Earth-1 when they came, but Samantha put her foot down. We were all here for you, in any way we could be. Do _not_ blame yourself for an element you couldn’t control.”

“You couldn’t have known it was going to happen, either,” William told her, sniffing. “It happened way too fast.” He ducked his head down, rubbing his nose. “She wasn’t breathing when I got to her.”

“I could almost hear when her heart stopped,” Kara swallowed, looking down at her hands. “I’m used to being able to hear things, to stop these things from happening the moment before they do.” She tucked her hair behind her ear, putting her hand over her mouth. “And all Cadmus seems to be doing is throwing it in my face that I _can’t!”_

“Even the invincible can have moments where they fall, Kara,” Oliver told her gently. “You’re not a god. You don’t have to be perfect, even though everyone else out there may expect you to be. You’re allowed to have moments where you’re vulnerable. You’re allowed to have moments like this, where something like this affects you.”

“I know,” Kara sighed, leaning into his hand, and Oliver moved his chair to be on her other side, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder. “Sometimes I just damn my human heart.”

“Nothing’s wrong with being human,” William frowned up at her. “What’s wrong with an alien having a human side?”

“You should listen to him,” Oliver told Kara with a smile, giving her a small squeeze. “You are the strongest, kindest person I know. Don’t let Cadmus take that away from you. Don’t let them stop you from fighting.” Kara closed her eyes, sniffing. “You hear me?” he asked quietly. “Keep fighting.”

Kara just nodded, and Oliver kissed the top of her head as she buried her head into his shoulder, William hurrying to hug her as best as he could.

* * *

**_Kara Danvers_ **

Everyone turned to watch Oliver and Kara walk into the command hub, both of them with the same anger on their faces. William was on Kara’s other side, looking both nervous and eager at the same time. “We know Cadmus did this,” Kara said with no expression in her voice, making Alex and Winn exchange wary glances. Kara like this was either very good for them . . . or very bad. “Do we know _exactly_ who did this?”

“I couldn’t hack security in the area,” Winn shook his head. “Cadmus is very good.”

“I sense a but coming,” Oliver folded his arms.

“But,” Winn nodded, gesturing to the blonde by him.

“They’re not as good as me,” Felicity smirked, tapping a key.

Everyone looked up at the large screen as the footage came on, and Curtis blinked. “Whoa. Wait a minute. Is that – ?”

“That’s you,” Dinah frowned at J’onn.

“That is the original Hank Henshaw,” J’onn narrowed his eyes. “I was originally a refugee, one that was eventually found by the D.E.O. back when it was anti-alien. Hank Henshaw ordered me dead on sight. One of his men, Jeremiah Danvers, took the time to know me. He had taken in an alien refugee of his own. He sacrificed himself to save me, even when it meant betraying his boss. The last thing he told me before I believed him dead was to look out for his girls.” He nodded to Alex and Kara. “And I have done my best to keep that promise.”

“Believed him dead?” Rene repeated.

“Your father is still alive?” Nyssa asked Alex.

“He’s Cadmus,” she said shortly.

“Ouch,” Dinah cringed sympathetically.

“And Henshaw was found by Cadmus as well,” J’onn nodded. “They turned him into a cyborg, one they call Cyborg Superman.”

“Dude, that is a horrible name,” Cisco wrinkled his nose.

“He’s as strong as me,” Kara shook her head. “Aptly named.”

“He’s definitely the shooter,” Winn announced. “Hank Henshaw killed Samantha.”

Kara nodded slowly. “Cadmus should know better. Their problem is with _me._ But they chose to kill someone innocent. I want Cadmus gone,” she said bluntly. “With or without everyone in this room, Cadmus is just going to be a name in history by the time I finish with them. And they _will_ end after this fundraiser.” She looked around the room. “And I’m going to do it, with or without everyone in this room.”

“I’ll be right at your side,” Oliver promised.

“So will I,” Alex nodded.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Laurel nodded.

“Earth-1 stands with the Girl of Steel,” Iris smiled.

“For Mom,” William nodded to Kara.

“For Samantha,” Kara agreed, squeezing his shoulder, then looked up at the large screen. “Let’s get to work.”


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team SuperArrow at the L-Corp fundraiser. What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was one of my favorites to write for the book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Lena Luthor_ **

Lena scowled as she watched updates scroll on her phone. “Well, so far, the venue looks clean.” She looked up as Kara came out of the dressing rooms in another designer dress. “Nothing for you to worry about.”

“That just makes me worry more,” Kara sighed before turning and looking in the mirror, wincing and fiddling with her ear. “No . . . cherry red is _not_ my color.”

“Mmm, maybe not,” Lena admitted.

“That’s why I keep telling her to wear green,” Laurel poked her head out of another dressing room. “Stake her claim!”

“Oh, my God,” Kara buried her face in her hands as Lena laughed. “Stop it!”

“Come on,” Lena encouraged. “I know how important it is for you to bury my mother, but please, at least have some fun where you can.”

“Fine, I’ll try on the emerald,” Kara sighed, heading back to the dressing rooms.

“Thank you!” Laurel grinned as she walked out of her dressing room, clad in a black dress with a slit in the skirt.

“Oh, look,” Kara tilted her head, poking at her shoulder. “Fishnets.”

“Stop stalling,” Laurel gave her a small push, and Kara glared as she closed the door to her dressing room. Laurel snickered and walked out to where Lena was sitting and waiting. “What do you think?”

“I think you and Malcolm are going to look stunning together,” Lena answered,

Laurel faked a gag, making Lena snort. “I don’t know who’s going to have a more interesting night: Oliver and Kara, or the two of us.”

“Depends on if Malcolm’s complaining as much as you are,” Lena said innocently.

“Me and Malcolm Merlyn,” Laurel rolled her eyes, turning to see her reflection in the mirror. “That’s just . . . no.”

“Oh, please,” Lena rolled her eyes. “There are probably worse men you could go with.”

Laurel tilted her head back and forth. “Chase,” she finally said before making a show of sticking out her tongue.

“No,” Kara walked out of the dressing room, and Lena’s eyebrows shot up when she saw her storm out in the emerald dress she had vehemently protested against . . . and now wore like a queen, she thought, seeing Laurel do a double take as well. “Do not even joke about that. We don’t speak of that . . . jerk . . . person ever again.”

“Wow,” Lena blinked, still surprised.

“You _kill_ in that color,” Laurel grinned, folding her arms. “You’re getting that dress.”

“Really?” Kara sighed, turning to look in the mirror, only to blink. “Oh,” she tilted her head, considering how she looked. “Actually . . . ”

“Told you,” Laurel smirked smugly.

“Fine, emerald it is,” Kara sighed, turning around, but there was a pleased look on her face, too. “Thank you, Lena.”

“Of course,” Lena waved a hand. “It’s my fundraiser you could potentially get killed at. Might as well spoil you while I can.”

“Thanks for reminding me,” Kara drooped slightly, walking over to her purse and pulling out her phone.

“Hey,” Laurel walked over, putting her hand on Kara’s shoulder. “We’re not going to let that happen, OK? We promised, and we’re going to keep it.”

“Samantha _died_ keeping it,” Kara mumbled.

“And Henshaw is going to pay for what he did,” Laurel vowed. “You’re not the only one hurting because of her death, Kara.”

Kara blew out her breath, closing her eyes. “I want this to _end,”_ she said, her voice cracking. “And I want it to end _now.”_

“The fundraiser’s tonight, so it’s sooner than you think,” Lena stood, putting her hand on Kara’s other shoulder. “Mother will get what she deserves, Kara. Hell, Oliver will probably deliver her head to you on a platter if you ask him to.”

Kara’s lips quirked in a grin. “He probably would.”

“Are you kidding?” Laurel snorted. “There’s no _probably,_ Kara. He just would.”

Kara couldn’t help but smile more. “I have the best boyfriend.”

“Yes, you do,” Lena chuckled, patting her on the back. “Go get changed, I’ll pay for the dresses.”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Oliver pulled out his phone when it chirped, keeping an eye on Dig and Rene getting suits fitted, Malcolm already returning from the changing rooms. “Those are the rest of the details,” he said, holding up his phone. “The invites from L-Corp, and Felicity and Winn have made sure we actually exist.”

“That would be interesting to explain,” Rene quipped before thanking the man helping him.

“I remember what these parties were like in Star City,” Malcolm wrinkled his nose.

“Oh, don’t remind me,” Oliver sighed. “Those were the _worst.”_

“Was that because you usually had some place to be?” Malcolm raised an eyebrow.

“No, I just hated them,” Oliver snorted.

“That makes two of us.”

“Man, how did we get here?” Dig wondered, shaking his head in disbelief. “Originally it was just you, me, and Felicity, and now we’re here with ten plus from Star City, metahumans, and you’re now dating the most powerful person we’ve ever met.”

“Typical Wednesday, huh, Hoss?” Rene smirked.

“It won’t be tonight,” Oliver narrowed his eyes, draping the hanger bag with his suit over his arm.

“Mmm, corrupt woman with a black ops organization formerly working for the government?” Malcolm tilted his head back and forth. “You sure about that, Oliver?”

Oliver smirked. “Except this organization is going to stay ashes when we’re through with it.”

* * *

**_Lillian Luthor_ **

Lillian smirked when she saw the news report advertising her daughter’s fundraiser at L-Corp. She knew the poor girl was expecting Cadmus to make a show of the event and turn the public against Supergirl.

Oh, she didn’t need to be there to see that happen.

She turned when she heard the door open, and she raised an eyebrow when Henshaw walked in. “Was the package delivered?” she asked.

“Yes,” Henshaw nodded. “They have no way of knowing it’s there.”

“Good,” Lillian’s face split with her cruel smirk, turning back to the report. “Let’s see you win this time, _Supergirl.”_

* * *

**_Kara Danvers/Oliver Queen_ **

“Alpha Group, comms check,” Winn called as he handed a Bluetooth device to Rene.

“Supergirl, check,” Kara fiddled with hers.

“Green Arrow, check,” Oliver looked around.

“Dark Archer, check,” Malcolm pulled a set of gloves on, hiding his cybernetic hand.

“Black Siren, check,” Laurel nodded.

“Spartan, check,” Dig slid a gun into the inside of his suit jacket.

“Wild Dog, check,” Rene finished as he put the Bluetooth in his ear.

“Beta Group?” Felicity looked up from her tablet.

“Deathstroke, check,” Slade answered.

“al Ghul, check,” Nyssa nodded.

“Speedy, check,” Thea double checked her arrows.

“Black Canary, check,” Dinah snapped her staff to full length.

“That’s everyone,” Cisco nodded, adjusting his own Bluetooth as Iris, Quentin, and William watched on.

Kara watched J’onn, Alex, and Maggie put comms of their own on, and she jumped slightly when she felt a hand on her back. She smiled sheepishly at Oliver as he looked at her in concern. “You ready?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Kara nodded slowly. “I am.” She looked up at him, swallowing slightly. “But that terrifies me.”

“Scared is good,” Oliver nodded. “I’d be worried if you weren’t. These guys have been the bane of your existence for so long. And we’re about to go to war with them. You’re allowed to be scared, Kara.”

“Good,” she took in a shaky breath. “Because I definitely am.”

“Hey, guys,” James called, and the group turned as he entered. “Cars are here.”

Kara stiffened slightly, and Oliver nodded. “Thank you, James.”

William shuffled forward, then hugged Kara around the waist. She blinked, surprised, then Oliver stumbled slightly when he hugged him next. “Don’t let them kill you?” he asked.

Oliver chuckled. “We’ll come back, buddy.”

“You won’t get rid of us that easily,” Kara smiled.

Oliver looked around the D.E.O. at those willing to charge headfirst into battle, then nodded at those with him and Kara. “Let’s go.”

James led them out of the D.E.O., and Laurel frowned when Malcolm leaned down to her. “I’m getting the feeling Kara wasn’t the first one to choose her dress?” he smirked.

Despite herself, Laurel grinned smugly. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

Malcolm chuckled and shook his head, the two of them following behind Oliver and Kara, Dig and Rene in the rear.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

James, Dig, and Rene met up with Cat just outside of the venue. “About time,” she raised an eyebrow.

“Can’t be too careful,” Oliver shook his head, placing his hand on the small of Kara’s back.

Cat conceded the point, and playing the part of bodyguard perfectly, Dig gestured to the venue. “Shall we?”

Cat scoffed under her breath, but she was smirking slightly as she walked forward. Rene and Dig followed behind, with James behind them. Oliver held his arm out for Kara, and she took it with a smile, adjusting her glasses slightly. Malcolm offered his to Laurel, who sighed and took it as well. The two pairs followed after the others, showing their invites to the guards standing at the doors. Before they entered, Oliver turned to casually look around. If he had been anyone else, he would have seen nothing out of the ordinary.

Of course, that meant he saw the glint of a orange caribiners on the next building over. He turned back around, leading Kara inside, whispering, “Alpha, on site.”

“Beta, on site,” Slade answered. “Good luck, kid.”

* * *

_**William Clayton** _

“God help us,” Quentin muttered, hearing confirmations come in.

“That’s everyone,” Iris looked up on the large monitor.

“Pulling up security cameras now,” Felicity typed away at her computer. She blinked suddenly, then narrowed her eyes. “Someone’s already in.”

“Cadmus?” Curtis asked.

“Has to be,” Winn sighed. “It can never be easy, can it?”

“Easy is boring,” Felicity snorted.

“Come on, it _would_ be nice, though.”

“Can you kick ‘em out?” Cisco interrupted.

“But then they’d know you’re on to them,” William said from behind them, making all five look back at him. “I mean, if they don’t know that, you can track them, right?”

Felicity grinned. “Definitely Oliver’s kid.” She turned around, her fingers moving faster. “Oh, Cadmus, where are you hiding?”

* * *

**_Lillian Luthor_ **

Lillian leaned forward expectantly when she saw the group enter the venue. “There they are.”

“There are more than we expected,” Henshaw mused.

“Oh, there’s nothing to fear from Cat Grant,” Lillian rolled her eyes. Her gaze focused on one man, and she narrowed her eyes to slits, pointing. “But _him,_ on the other hand . . . ”

Henshaw narrowed his eyes, seeing the black-haired man she pointed out, a stunning blonde in black on his arm. “He was another choice of targets.”

Lillian raised a hand to the Bluetooth device in her ear. “The man in black with the woman in black,” she said sharply. “Deal with him.”

“And what of him?” Henshaw pointed towards the man with the Kryptonian.

Lillian folded her arms. “We watch,” she answered simply.

* * *

**_Kara Danvers_ **

“Oh, I can smell it already,” Cat wrinkled her nose as the group made their way to where Lena was speaking to a few men no one recognized. “Fresh checkbooks ready to make it look like their owners care.”

“Hopefully, that makes you one that does,” Lena smirked as she walked over.

“Please,” Cat rolled her eyes. “I named Supergirl. Of course I care.”

Kara blushed bashfully, making Oliver chuckle. “Nice party, Lena.”

“Thank you,” Lena nodded. “Only the best to support National City’s finest.” She looked around, then lowered her voice. “Any trouble?”

“Overwatch?” Dig looked up. “Anything?”

“Someone else is in the security feed,” Felicity answered. “Working on tracing the signal. It’s taking a while, though.”

“Cadmus is tough to hack,” Winn added.

There was a snort. “They haven’t met me.”

“So they’re watching,” Rene scowled. “At least we know that.”

“Keep working,” Oliver ordered. “Beta team? Anything outside?”

* * *

**_Dinah Drake_ **

“Nothing,” Dinah scowled, folding her arms as she walked across the roof, Thea absently twirling her bow. “You’d think they’d have at least some vehicle if they were here.”

“Watching via cameras doesn’t mean they need people here to get their job done,” Slade pointed out.

“There is no sign of Kryptonite?” Nyssa asked, just to clarify.

“Zilch,” Cisco answered, sounding confused.

“And that’s the only weakness we have for Supergirl,” J’onn said.

“Then what the hell are they planning?” Thea wondered.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen/Malcolm Merlyn/Kara Danvers_ **

“Good question,” Oliver muttered, looking around. Kara, Cat, and James were still speaking with Lena, Dig and Rene keeping them in clear sight. Malcolm and Laurel were making rounds of the room, both of them flashing smiles he could obviously tell were forced. “If anyone stands out, say something.”

Malcolm grimaced slightly as the last businessman he spoke to moved away. “I’d say everyone, but who doesn’t at a gala like this?”

“Aww, not having fun like you used to?” Laurel quirked an eyebrow.

Malcolm sighed, looking around the room. “You try being in a room where everyone’s pulling an act and you’re an assas – _ack!”_

Oliver turned around and raised an eyebrow when Malcolm yelped, and he smirked when he saw Malcolm cringe as Laurel smiled sweetly and lifted her heel from his toes. “You were saying?” she asked.

“Really?” Malcolm sneered.

Laughter came over the comms. “Next time, don’t try and say you’re an assassin, wizard.”

 _“Magician,”_ Malcolm narrowed his eyes.

“Same thing.”

“Oh, I _hate_ you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Will the two of you stop being children?” Dinah complained.

“I don’t think there’s a chance of that,” Laurel sighed, even as Malcolm grumbled under his breath, Slade still chuckling.

Kara giggled, walking towards the buffet table, only to sway on her feet slightly. She blinked, straightening herself, before frowning and looking around, peering over her glasses. She frowned further when she didn’t see any Kryptonite at all. “That’s weird,” she mumbled before turning around to get some snacks.

* * *

**_Lillian Luthor_ **

Lillian smirked, seeing the Kryptonian stagger. “So it begins.”

* * *

**_Laurel Lance_ **

“A drink, sir?” a waiter asked as he passed Malcolm by.

“No, thank you,” Malcolm shook his head absently.

Laurel tilted her head, seeing there was only one flute of champagne left. “If I may?” she tilted her head with a smirk, reaching for it.

The waiter smiled and held the tray out, and Laurel took the drink. Malcolm raised an eyebrow as she turned back around. “The Laurel I knew originally turned into an alcoholic after my son died,” Malcolm revealed to her, making Laurel tilt her head, listening. “She only drank club soda after that.”

“I’m not that Laurel,” she reminded him, sipping the champagne.

“I know you’re not,” Malcolm assured her. “Doesn’t mean it’s not weird.”

Laurel made a show of looking around where they were. “Said while we’re at a fundraiser gala held by a Luthor celebrating a Kryptonian, who Luthors are supposed to hate.”

“I know,” Malcolm rolled his eyes, and Laurel’s shoulders shook as she laughed slightly. “Spare me.”

* * *

**_Kara Danvers_ **

Kara shook her head at their antics, turning around –

She gasped, eyes wide, backing up in shock. The waitress looking at her gasped as well, hurrying to make sure she didn’t spill her drinks. “I’m so sorry, ma’am,” she apologized. “Is everything OK?”

“Yeah,” Kara breathed, blinking rapidly. “Yeah, I’m . . . I’m fine,” she nodded hastily. “You just looked extremely similar to someone I know.”

“If you’re sure, ma’am,” the waitress nodded, and Kara watched her go, eyes wide.

She was certain that woman had just looked like Evelyn Sharpe.

* * *

**_Quentin Lance_ **

“Felicity,” Cisco groaned.

“Damn, these guys are good,” Felicity gritted her teeth, hunched over as she worked.

“I don’t get it,” Quentin paced. “Cadmus is in the security cameras, but that’s it, right? No soldiers, no Kryptonite?”

“Still no sign of soldiers,” Maggie confirmed.

“And nothing on satellites indicating Kryptonite,” Winn gestured to his tablet.

“This makes _no_ sense,” Iris rubbed her forehead. “Is this some kind of trick? Get us paranoid, and catch us off guard?”

“No, that’s not Cadmus,” Winn shook his head. “That’s not something they would do.”

“Well, they’ve got to be doing something,” Curtis snorted. “Why else would they be in the cameras?”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Oliver turned around when he heard Kara make another noise. He frowned, putting his hand on her arm. “You OK?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Kara gulped, nodding, tearing her eyes away from a waitress of Middle Eastern descent. “Fine.”

“You’re sure?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Kara nodded insistently. “I’m fine.” Oliver gave her a look, and Kara sighed. “Is it just me, or does she look like Talia?”

Oliver did a double take, looking at the waitress again. “Slightly,” he frowned. “I guess since you saw her the once, you might think that.”

“OK,” Kara relaxed. “Thanks.”

Oliver watched her go speak with Lena again before frowning and doing another scan of the room. If he was being completely honest with himself, he wasn’t reminded of Talia at all by that waitress.

* * *

**_Malcolm Merlyn_ **

Malcolm eyed the waitress as she passed as well before shaking his head. He didn’t think she looked like Talia, either.

A glint from above made him look up, and he whistled lowly when he saw the chandelier in the center of the room. The manager passing by stopped and looked up. “Impressive, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Very,” Malcolm nodded. “Crystal?”

“And silver,” the manager confirmed. “Delivered last night. We just got it up in time for the fundraiser.”

“Mmm,” Malcolm nodded. “Looks good in here.” The manager nodded and started to leave, then looked back. “Are you all right, ma’am?”

“Fine,” Laurel answered, and blinking, Malcolm turned to see Laurel give the manager a smile. “Thank you.”

Malcolm frowned, seeing she looked slightly pale. “You don’t look like it.”

“Probably just the crowd,” Laurel looked around at how packed the venue was.

“I can handle it in here if you want to go?” Malcolm offered.

“No,” she shook her head. “I’m staying.”

* * *

**_Kara Danvers_ **

“You don’t look too hot, blondie,” Rene frowned, walking up to where Kara was leaning on a table, chowing down on a few chocolates.

“No, no, nothing’s wrong,” Kara shook her head. “Just . . . nervous, I guess.”

“I can get Oliver?” Rene offered.

“No,” Kara shook her head. “I swear, Rene, I’m fine. Just . . . ” She looked around, tensing slightly. “Getting some bad flashbacks.”

Rene nodded slowly, then backed off, and Kara turned her back to where she had just been looking, taking deep breaths.

There was no way Digger Harkness was at this gala. How could he be? The man was dead!

* * *

**_Slade Wilson_ **

Slade growled low in his throat, shaking his head. “It’s been at least an hour,” he looked around. “They could have pulled something already.”

“You’d think they would have,” Thea remarked.

“Cadmus is very bold in what they do,” J’onn said. “I agree. This isn’t like them.”

* * *

**_Felicity Smoak_ **

“Seriously, they could have shut cameras down, which would have made our jobs much harder,” Felicity chewed on a pen cap.

“They could have had soldiers under cover, or even barge in there,” Quentin agreed.

“So why the hell aren’t they doing anything?” Cisco reiterated.

“What, are they expecting Kara’s just going to reveal herself or something?” Iris scoffed.

* * *

 

**_Malcolm Merlyn_ **

“Malcolm.”

“What?” Malcolm sighed, rubbing his forehead.

“I just realized something.”

“What?” he turned around, only to blink at what he saw.

Laurel had her hand raised towards one of the lights, and was tilting her head. She then turned to him and gave him a confused look. “I can see through my hand.”

“ . . . excuse me?” Malcolm blinked again.

“What did she just say?” Thea sounded like she was trying not to laugh.

“No, really, I can see through my hand,” Laurel insisted, frowning. “Should I be able to do that?”

“No,” Malcolm shook his head, grabbing her arm and leading her off. When she started to stumble, he cursed. “Laurel’s been drugged!”

“They’re here,” Dig growled, looking around, Rene on guard as well.

* * *

**_Felicity Smoak_ **

“That’s impossible,” Curtis straightened in his chair. “We’ve been keeping an eye on everything all night. Nothing’s gone wrong.”

There was a pause, then Malcolm cursed. “That waiter that offered me a drink. There was only one glass on the tray, and he specifically asked _me.”_

“The drug was meant for you?” Nyssa asked, surprised.

“When Cadmus attacked Kara in the bar, I was unmasked,” Malcolm reminded them, making Felicity’s eyes widen. “They know my face.”

“Which means they had to see you come in,” Winn turned to the computer. “Felicity!”

“Working on it!” Felicity insisted.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

“Work faster,” Oliver ordered, watching Malcolm usher Laurel towards the door. “Who knows what can happen to the rest of – ” Glass shattered suddenly, and Oliver spun around, only to see Kara stagger away from one of the tables. “Kara!” he ran towards her at once.

Questions immediately started coming from all directions on comms, but he and Dig made it to Kara at the same time. “Kara?” Dig asked.

“You OK?” Oliver asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

He was caught off guard when she shoved him away. “Keep him away,” Kara whimpered, turning towards Dig, who blinked in shock. “He needs to _stay away!”_

“What the hell, Hoss?” Rene blinked as he and James ran up.

“Kid, what’s going on?” Slade demanded.

“Kara just dropped her glass, and now she wants Oliver to stay away from her,” Dig answered.

“Why the hell would she want that?” James frowned.

“Not Oliver,” Kara shook her head, eyes wide as she looked up at Dig. “How can you say he’s Oliver?”

Oliver blinked rapidly, still trying to keep up. “Kara, of course that’s Oliver,” Lena looked at her in confusion.

“Who else could he be?” Rene frowned.

Kara just gawked at him. “I’m not crazy!”

“I’m not saying you are, blondie!”

“When why are you telling me that’s not Prometheus?”

Oliver’s jaw dropped, and even Rene took a few steps back.

* * *

**_Quentin Lance_ **

“I’m sorry, did I hear that right?” Quentin shook his head. “Did Kara just call Oliver _Prometheus?”_

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Curtis shook his head. “Why would Kara think Oliver is Prometheus?”

“She thought she saw Talia al Ghul earlier,” Oliver added.

“Talia?” Nyssa repeated.

They were interrupted by a loud swear from Alex. “Whoa, cool it, Danvers,” Cisco frowned.

“She thought she saw her?” Alex demanded.

“I just said that!” Oliver growled.

“Like a _hallucination?”_

Pause. “I . . . suppose? Maybe. I don’t think she’d answer if I asked her!”

“She said she kept getting flashbacks,” Rene added.

“Danvers?” Maggie asked, sounding cautious. “You’re scaring me.”

 _“I’m_ scared!” Alex cried.

“Agent Schott, what types of Kryptonite are you scanning for?” J’onn demanded.

“Uh,” Winn pulled up schematics. “The usual, of course!”

“And by the usual, do you mean green and red?”

“Yeah, you know that. Why are you – ” Winn suddenly trailed off, and everyone looked at him when his face went dead white. “Uh oh.”

 _“Uh oh?”_ Slade repeated.

“I don’t like ‘uh oh,’” Felicity stammered.

“No, no, no, this is an uh oh you definitely won’t like,” Winn shook his head, spinning around.

“Explain why!” Iris demanded.

“Because there’s one type of Kryptonite we didn’t get enough of to add to the database to be able to scan for,” Winn answered, swallowing.

“What kind of Kryptonite is that?” Cisco asked.

“Silver,” J’onn answered grimly. “In a large enough quantity, it can cause Kryptonians to go into deep hallucinations. It made her cousin believe she was his worst enemy.”

Malcolm cursed as well. “And guess what big addition was delivered to the venue just this morning and is hiding right in plain sight?”

* * *

 ** _Oliver Queen_**  

Lena paled when she saw the large crystal and silver chandelier dangling in the center of the venue. “Oh, my God.”

Oliver looked down at Kara’s arms, his eyes widening when he saw her veins. “John.”

He looked down as well and sighed, closing his eyes. “She’s got silver in her veins.”

“Get her out of there, _now!”_ J’onn barked, and Dig hauled Kara to her feet. “If the hallucinations get bad enough, she’ll target someone!”

Dig, Rene, and Oliver quickly hurried Kara down the hall, only for Kara to stop dead in her tracks. “Kara, come on!” Dig spun around, only to freeze. “Oh, no.”

“Oh, it’s not good when you say that twice!” Felicity groaned.

Oliver swallowed. “Too late, J’onn.”

Kara’s eyes were starting to glow, her gaze locked on him. “This is _my_ city,” she growled, whipping her glasses off. “You are _not_ taking anyone!”

“Oliver, get down!” Dig yelled.

Oliver dove into the next corridor, barely avoiding getting hit with heat vision. He heard yells over the comms, wincing. He could barely make out the sounds of screaming from the venue behind him, and he closed his eyes. “Well, Cadmus got what they wanted,” he hissed. “Kara just tried to fry me, with all of National City’s elite in the other room.”

Cisco groaned and said what surely had to be going through most of Team Arrow’s minds. “Some Wednesday!”


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Silver-K!Kara attacks, and Felicity finally finds the villains of the hour . . . or book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Oliver had gotten a taste of what Kara’s super strength was when she had punched him after her nightmare. He was not prepared for her to crash through the wall, grab him by his suit jacket, and carry him out into the night. “Oliver!” he heard Dig shout.

Kara slugged him with a right hook that had him going head over heels, smashing onto a nearby roof. He groaned in pain, stumbling and getting to his feet, turning to see Kara land on the far side of the roof, her fingers curling into fists. That prompted him to jump to his feet, holding up his hands. “Kara, I’m not him,” he tried to reach her, eyes wide. “I swear I’m not!”

“I don’t know how you got here,” Kara growled, her eyes starting to glow again, making Oliver look around for a place to hide. “But get the _hell_ off my Earth!”

A sonic scream hit her, and Kara went flying. Oliver spun around to see Slade and Dinah race across the roof, Thea and Nyssa swinging up a few moments later. “How many types of that crap _are_ there?” Slade growled, watching Kara stagger.

“Never mind that, how do we deal with her?” Dinah nodded to Kara.

“With an _overwhelming_ amount of backup,” Oliver grimaced. “Remember the Dominators?”

“None of us could beat her,” Thea nodded miserably.

“She’s back,” Nyssa warned.

“Get away from him,” Kara warned, holding her hand to one ear, pointing at Oliver with the other. “Slade, Thea, Nyssa, Dinah, get away!”

That made all five vigilantes blink. “It’s just you?” Thea asked her brother in surprise.

“Guess so,” he said, sounding just as confused.

* * *

**_Felicity Smoak_ **

Felicity’s computer chirped, and her jaw dropped. “Oh, my God.”

“What?” Quentin turned around.

“Booyah!” she threw her hands up in the air triumphantly. “Who’s the best hacker in two universes, people?” She pointed at her screen. “I got them!”

“You found them?” Alex asked hopefully.

“Cadmus is hiding right in the center of the city,” Felicity said confidently, a wide grin on her face.

“Send us the coordinates,” J’onn ordered.

“On it,” Winn tapped on his tablet.

* * *

_**Alex Danvers** _

Alex pulled out her phone, dialing rapidly as Maggie put the van in drive. “Let’s get the others,” she said.

“Yeah,” Alex nodded absently. She ignored her fiancée’s confused look, instead focusing on the number she was calling. She saw Dig, Rene, Malcolm, and Laurel hurry towards the van, Laurel still looking shaky on her feet, but when she heard the line pick up, she straightened. “We’ve got a problem,” was all she said.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Everyone on the rooftop paused when they heard the announcement, and Oliver turned. “Go,” he said.

“Oliver!” Dinah protested, even Nyssa looking at him as if he were insane.

“She recognizes you, she doesn’t see me,” Oliver shook his head. “The more to deal with Cadmus, the better.”

“Danvers?” Slade asked reluctantly. “How do you get this out of her system?”

“The only experience we had with it was with her cousin,” Alex answered. “We don’t have a cure. It just needs to wear off.”

“How long could that take?”

“It took a few hours, but that was because of a rock. What was the Kryptonite like that she was exposed to?”

Oliver closed his eyes. “However much silver Kryptonite could form a chandelier.”

There was silence on the other line. “Then I don’t know,” Alex said reluctantly.

The four other vigilantes looked at Oliver hesitantly. “Oliver,” Thea began.

“Kara matters more,” Oliver shook his head. “All of you, _go.”_ He smirked at Slade. “Kill some Cadmus bastards for me.”

That seemed to make up Slade’s mind. “Get her back, kid,” he told him before heading for the edge of the roof.

The three women followed, and Oliver turned back around to look at Kara, who was watching the others leave. She finally turned back to him, narrowing her eyes. “You’re not fooling anyone, Chase.”

Oliver swallowed, making sure to hold his hands away from his body so she could see them. “I’m not Prometheus, Kara,” he insisted.

She simply let out an enraged cry and flew at him. Oliver narrowly dove to the ground, looking up to see her whip around horizontally in midair, and feet hit him in the chest, catapulting him backwards. He shouted in pain when he collided with the ledge of the roof, wincing and reaching for his back. “Dad!” he heard William cry.

“Oliver?” Felicity asked nervously.

He grimaced, about to reply, when he felt Kara stomp on his back, smashing him into the ledge. He cried out again, remembering how completely out of it Wally had been after Kara had taken him out when she was under the Dominators’ control. She hadn’t been trying to kill him then, though.

If she thought he was Prometheus, though . . .

His train of thought was interrupted when he felt Kara grab him by the throat, and he choked for breath. “Kara!” he rasped. “This isn’t you!”

“This is me protecting my city and my friends!” she snarled. “You won’t hurt _anyone_ ever again!”

There were protests all over the comms, having heard Kara’s words, and Oliver closed his eyes. “Kara,” he tried one last time, only to choke when her grip on his throat tightened –

And suddenly, with a wail, she released her grip. Oliver collapsed with a grunt, reaching up to massage his throat. “Oliver!” Dig shouted.

Oliver was about to respond when he heard an animalistic roar of rage from Kara behind him, so unlike her that he nearly jumped a foot in the air. It was what she yelled in pure anger, however, that made him turn. _“RHEA!”_

Oliver spun around quicker than he had ever done in his life. His eyes also widened larger than he was certain they’d ever been before.

Because who Kara was facing with such anger was most certainly _not_ Queen Rhea of Daxam. “Yeah,” Clark Kent sighed, a look of regret in his eyes as he raised his fists into ready position. “I was afraid you might say that.”

Kara screeched lividly and flew into the air, Clark pouncing as well. Oliver quickly dove for cover as the two Kryptonians exchanged blows. “Well,” he blew out the breath he’d been holding. “That takes care of Kara.”

“You beat her?” Quentin asked in surprise.

Oliver peered out from behind the water tower, watching Clark catch Kara’s fist with one hand and punch her with the other, sending her reeling. “Well . . . her cousin’s working on that.”

* * *

**_Maggie Sawyer_ **

From the back of the van Maggie was now driving twenty miles over the speed limit, Dig blinked rapidly. “Her cousin?” he repeated.

“Did I stutter?” Oliver asked dryly.

“Thank God he made it,” Alex sighed.

“Her cousin,” Dig mumbled.

“You all right?” Rene asked with a grin.

“I don’t know,” Dig sighed.

“Need a cup of tea?” Laurel asked in a slight slur before wincing and groaning, holding her head. “Goddamn drugs . . . ”

“You’re doing better than I expected,” Alex raised an eyebrow.

“Metahuman physiology, I’m guessing,” Malcolm predicted, raising an eyebrow at Laurel. “So am I finally seeing what Laurel Lance looks like when she’s on a high?”

“I have no idea,” Laurel groaned.

“Next left, Maggie,” Felicity said, and Maggie swerved. “Completely normal-looking building.”

Maggie stepped on the brakes, stopping outside a multi-level building that looked abandoned from the outside. As soon as the van squealed to a stop, there were three armed soldiers running out, machine guns raised. Alex quickly shot one of them down; the other two were killed by a red arrow in the heart, and a triple tap to the chest. J’onn pulled the second van up, and Slade, Nyssa, Thea, and Dinah emerged from it. Maggie, Alex, Dig, Rene, Malcolm, and Laurel came out of the first one, all of them armed to the teeth. J’onn transformed into his Martian form, growling. “At long last.”

“Can you still hear us?” Alex asked.

“Loud and clear,” Winn answered.

“Shoot them all for us,” Iris pitched in.

J’onn and Alex simply turned to Dinah and Laurel. The two metahumans nodded, taking deep breaths. A second later, both screamed in the direction of the doors. The combined sonic screams sent the team reeling, their ears ringing.

They also made the doors nearly disintegrate, there was so much power behind them.

Startled shouts came from inside the base, and as one, the team charged into the building, ready to bring Cadmus down once and for all.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Five minutes into the cousins’ battle, Oliver noticed two things. One was that the rooftop was completely trashed.

Two . . . the silver Kryptonite didn’t seem to be affecting Kara’s powers at all. If anything, her hallucinations were causing her to use them even more.

The good news was that Clark didn’t seem to be tiring. Oliver didn’t know how long that would last, though. The last thing Oliver needed was Kara beating her cousin and then going after him. “Holy frack,” he heard Cisco say over the comms.

“Are you seeing this?” he asked.

“Oh, we’re seeing it,” Quentin answered. “Damn.”

“I knew she was good, but I didn’t know she was _this_ good,” Cisco pitched in.

“Who does she think she’s fighting?” Winn asked.

Oliver winced, seeing Kara fire her heat vision at Clark, who responded in kind, the two of them locked and not letting up. “Rhea.”

“Oh,” Winn’s voice quieted. “That . . . that would do it.”

“Who’s Rhea?” William’s voice spoke up.

“A really nasty word that none of us should say in front of you,” Quentin answered, making Oliver snort.

Clark suddenly let out a shout of pain, and Oliver shot to his feet, watching Kara kick him in the knee before hovering in the air and diving for her cousin, nailing both fists into his ribs. Clark flew back to the edge of the ledge, and Kara was there in an instant, planting a booted foot on his chest, leaning down. _“You_ completely _ruined_ me!” she yelled, and the comms erupt with chatter, everyone trying to get through to Kara at once. She doesn’t pay the voices in her ear any attention, even as Oliver watches her hand wrap around Clark’s throat to choke him. “You made my life _hell!_ All because of a stupid grudge you couldn’t let up! You killed your _husband_ to do it! _Why couldn’t you just let your pride go?!”_ Clark started to choke as Kara’s grip tightened.

“Kara!” Cisco shouted.

“Almas, stop!” Malcolm yelled.

“Kara, please!” William joined in.

And the impossible seemed to happen. Kara faltered.

It was so sudden, both Oliver and Clark stopped and stared at her. Kara was frozen in place, blinking rapidly, before she snarled and leaned over her cousin again. “William, stay on comms!” Oliver reached for his, desperate. “William, keep talking to her! She can hear you!”

His son’s voice was much clearer when he spoke again. “Kara, please, don’t! Don’t hurt him! This isn’t you! Please, don’t hurt him!”

Kara’s grip loosened more, and as Oliver made his way closer, he could see her taking heaving breaths that had nothing to do with how much she had been fighting. She was drawing them in quickly, and Oliver could see her veins ripple silver again . . . except not as violently as they had been before. “Kara,” he whispered, Clark reaching up to take her hand away from him. Oliver quickly shook his hand at him, and the other Kryptonian froze in place. “That is _not_ Rhea.”

“Shut up,” Kara whispered, but it didn’t have the bite it had earlier.

“It’s not, Kara,” William insisted. “I can see who you’re fighting. It’s not whoever this Rhea is.”

 Kara shakily looked down at the hand that held her cousin tight, and before Oliver’s eyes, she started to relax her grip. “Kara, please, trust me. This isn’t you. You were about to kill your cousin.”

And then Kara’s eyes fly wide open, and she shoved herself away from Clark, eyes wide in terror. Clark went to one knee, taking deep breaths, rubbing his throat. “Kara!” Oliver ran to her.

“You’re on Lian Yu,” she panted, looking up at him. “You should be on Lian Yu!”

“Kara,” Oliver whispered, crouching in front of her. “I swear, I’m not Prometheus.”

“It’s my dad, Kara,” William said, and Oliver could see the quick flash of silver ripple through her irises before it was gone. “You put Prometheus where he needed to be. He can’t leave ever again.”

“My name is Oliver Queen,” Oliver told Kara fiercely, watching her look up at him, shaking slightly. The silver was still pulsing in her veins, but as he watched, the color started to pulse weaker and weaker. “You saved the lives of my son, his mother, my sister, and my friends on Lian Yu when you showed Adrian Chase, called Prometheus, that you were not going to let anyone die while you could save them. You _did_ save them, Kara. You saved all of us. And Chase is where he belongs – in purgatory, for the rest of his life.”

“You saved us, Kara,” William said. “Just listen to us and let us save you.”

Kara’s breathing started getting more ragged, and she cried out in pain, reaching up to grab her head. “Kara!” Oliver lunged forward, Clark getting to his feet.

“Oliver, I’ll get your gear and get it to you,” Cisco said.

Oliver didn’t wait for a confirmation; he just took Kara by the shoulders. “Kara?”

She looked up at him, silver blazing in her eyes. But as she stared at him, the silver slowly faded away, until all that was left were blazing sky blue orbs, starting to cloud as her eyes filled with tears. “Oliver?” she mouthed.

“Oh, thank God,” he choked, hugging her tightly, and Clark sighed in relief as Kara fell into Oliver’s arms, sobbing into his shoulder.

* * *

**_William Clayton_ **

William, too, started to sniff, rubbing at his eyes as he fell back in his chair. “She’s back,” Winn said quietly, smiling.

“Your mom would be _so_ proud of you,” Felicity smiled at William.

He managed a shaky smile back.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Kara sniffed and lifted her head from Oliver’s shoulder, eyes widening as her cousin approached. “Clark?” she whispered.

“Are you OK?” Clark asked, crouching down by her.

“Do I look OK?” Kara croaked, sniffing. “I tried to kill you! _Both_ of you!”

 _“I_ tried to kill _you_ back when I was affected by silver Kryptonite, too,” Clark countered. “That wasn’t your fault, Kara. And that was just a rock.”

“Kara, you were affected by pounds of it,” Oliver told her, cupping her face and wiping her tears away. “There was no way it wasn’t going to do something horrible. And you hallucinated two of the worst people to ever exist. Of course you were going to fight them. _We don’t blame you.”_

“You snapped out of it, Kara, faster than I ever could have,” Clark put his hand on her shoulder. “You fought it. You _always_ fight.”

“So stand up,” Oliver whispered fiercely. “Stand up and _fight back.”_

Kara took a few deep breaths, then nodded, taking his hand. Oliver kissed her forehead and helped her up. “By the way,” she said, her tone suddenly much lighter. “Clark, meet my boyfriend, Oliver Queen.”

Oliver snorted loudly, unable to keep from laughing. “This was _not_ how I expected to meet your cousin.”

“The last time I met my cousin’s boyfriend, _I_ was on the receiving end of silver Kryptonite,” Clark raised an eyebrow, but held out his hand. “I hope you’re worth her while.”

“Doubtful,” Oliver shrugged, shaking his hand. “But I’m trying to be.”

Clark smirked and nodded, accepting his answer. _“I_ say he is,” Kara mumbled, but she was blushing.

Oliver snorted again, Clark laughing, and the opening of a breach interrupted them. They turned as Cisco jumped out, in full Vibe uniform. “It’s safe to approach, right?” he looked around.

“I’m fine, Cisco,” Kara nodded.

“Good,” Cisco nodded, walking over and handing a duffel to Oliver, who took it. “Because the sooner you guys get to Cadmus, the sooner this ends.”

Oliver smirked, turning to Kara. “Let’s put these guys down for good.”


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team SuperArrow vs Cadmus. Nothing else needs to be said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Alex Danvers_ **

Cadmus was a warzone when other D.E.O. soldiers arrived. Bodies riddled with arrows, bullets, knives, stab wounds, and blood pouring from ears littered the floor. Dig and Rene were watching each other’s backs while Dinah moved lithely through soldiers, cracking her staff against skulls.  Further down the hall were Thea and Nyssa, the two women alternating between using their bows like staffs and stabbing with their swords. Maggie and Alex were reloading magazine after magazine, Alex a complete raging machine. J’onn, in Martian form, had to take out Cadmus agents about to shoot her from behind, she was on a warpath.

It was Slade, Malcolm, and Laurel that were taking out the most, though. They had been the ones to discover Kara in hell, and they had been the ones with her since the beginning. It came as no surprise to Thea when she turned to see Malcolm take down three in one second, Slade’s sword dripping blood on the ground. Laurel stopped once to look in a room Thea knew was empty before turning around. “That room’s safe,” she said. “I think.”

“Ground’s secure,” Dinah announced.

“Good,” Felicity said. “You’ve still got three to go.”

“Wonderful,” Dig grumbled.

“So we’ll split up and take each of the floors,” Maggie said. “I can take the next level.”

“I’ll take top,” Alex volunteered at once.

“All right, we’ll go with the cop,” Rene said.

“The cop?” Maggie raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll go as well,” Nyssa volunteered.

“I’ll go with J’onn,” Thea looked around.

“Me, too,” Dig nodded.

Malcolm turned to Alex and raised an eyebrow. “Shall we?”

“Good luck,” Dinah called, and Alex led Malcolm, Slade, and Laurel on.

* * *

**_Kara Danvers_ **

Cars went careening when a breach opened up in the middle of the street. Cisco and Oliver jumped out, Oliver in full Green Arrow gear, Kara and Clark flying out to hover in the air. “This is it,” Cisco nodded up at the building in front of them.

Clark squinted, only to groan in annoyance. “Of course. Lined with lead.”

“I hate lead,” Kara grimaced.

“Let’s go,” Oliver nodded, heading for the building, Cisco with him.

They made it to the doors when glass exploded from the third floor of the building, flames rushing out. Oliver and Cisco instinctively ducked while Kara and Clark flew around, catching chunks of glass before it reached the streets. Oliver straightened, reaching for his comms. “Guys?” he shouted. “Report!”

“Which floor was that?” Laurel immediately asked.

“Third!” Cisco answered.

“Oh, my God,” Dinah whispered in horror.

“Thea!” Malcolm cried in horror.

“John was there, too!”

“And J’onn!” Alex shouted.

Kara’s eyes widened, and she dove in through the windows, Clark right behind her. Oliver fired a grappling arrow and soared after them, Cisco opening a breach to head inside.

* * *

**_Thea Queen_ **

When they reached the third floor, J’onn pointed down one end of the hallway. “Check that way,” he ordered.

Dig simply nodded, and Thea drew an arrow, the two of them running down the hall. They made it to the end of the corridor and checked both ways. “OK, maybe I’m wrong, but shouldn’t there be soldiers swarming us right now?” Thea hissed.

Dig nodded, heading down his end of the corridor. Thea followed behind him, both of them ready to shoot at a moment’s notice. They came to a closed door at the end, and they looked at each other in concern. Dig finally reached for the door handle, and Thea backed up, drawing back her bow. Dig opened the door, and Thea sprinted in, raising her bow, Dig right behind her, gun raised. Four things then happened at once.

The lights turned on, practically blinding the two of them.

They saw a lit laboratory, and Thea felt like she could throw up for hours at the sight of dissected aliens lying on tables, Dig’s horrified “oh, my God” ringing in her ears.

Then the door slid shut behind them, making them turn around. “Guys!” Thea shouted, only to hear static in her comms.

Then everything around her went up in flames.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

By the time the four heroes make it to the lab, the corpses are nothing but charred piles, and the computers are bubbling piles of melted metal.

Dig and Thea were lying just inside the doorway, J’onn checking on them. Parts of their uniforms completely singed away. Dig appeared to have gotten the most of it, burns littering his arms and body. Somehow, impossibly, he was also starting to stir.

Thea wasn’t so lucky. Her leg was bent at an impossible angle, her left arm a complete charred mess. When Oliver bent to check her pulse, it was barely there. “Get them back to the D.E.O.,” he ordered Cisco. The meta nodded and opened a breach, grabbing Thea to take through first. J’onn was right behind him with Dig. Oliver chewed his lip, watching him go, before running with the Kryptonians back the other way.

They nearly ran into Maggie, Dinah, Rene, and Nyssa. “Are they OK?” Maggie immediately asked.

“They’re bad, but they’re alive,” Oliver answered heavily. “J’onn and Cisco took them back to the D.E.O.”

“That just leaves the top floor,” Nyssa said worriedly. “We saw no one on the floor below.”

“And there is a severe lack of bodies on this one, too,” Rene looked around.

“Good thing there’s a large number of badasses on the top floor,” Maggie looked up.

“Stay on this floor, make sure no one gets upstairs,” Oliver ordered. _“No one.”_

He didn’t give them time to answer. He just ran for the stairs, Kara and Clark behind him.

* * *

**_Alex Danvers_ **

“It’s like they knew we’d come up here!” Malcolm shouted as he shot two arrows at the same time, whipping around to stab another soldier in the neck.

“You’d think they’d have been better fighters, though!” Laurel called back, screaming down half a dozen soldiers before running at them, flipping two knives into her hands.

“Putting several _dumb_ soldiers together does not make them better!” Slade agreed, his sword slicing through three soldiers’ necks at the same time.

Alex shot both her guns at the same time, taking down two soldiers before standing up. “Definitely not,” she agreed, reaching for her comms. “We’re clear up here,” she reported, only to frown when she got static. “Hello?”

“Overwatch?” Malcolm turned around, frowning.

“Wonderful,” Slade growled.

Footsteps came from down the hall, and the four spun around, raising their weapons. “Easy!” Oliver came out, hands raised slightly, Kara and Clark behind him.

“Kid,” Slade said in relief. “There you are.”

“Kara,” Alex ran to hug her.

“Hey,” Kara hugged her back. “Alex?”

“Yeah?”

“I _hate_ Kryptonite.”

Laurel snorted. “Join the club.”

“There really are two of you,” Malcolm tilted his head, looking at Clark.

Kara coughed. “Clark, meet Slade Wilson, Malcolm Merlyn, and Laurel Lance. They came with Oliver to first rescue me from Cadmus.”

“Thank you,” Clark told them sincerely, smiling. “She means a lot to me.”

“She means a lot to us, too,” Slade nodded.

“Fair warning, our comms are down,” Alex warned. “We’re going in blind.”

Oliver sighed. “We’ve come this far. Better not give up now.”

* * *

**_Kara Danvers_ **

It had taken the original four about ten minutes to clear out nearly forty Cadmus soldiers. With Oliver and the two Kryptonians, they wiped out the rest on the floor within five.

At the end of the corridor was a completely dark room, the hum of electronics coming from inside. “OK, that’s usually not good,” Clark pointed out.

“Stay together,” Oliver muttered, hearing murmurs of agreement. He was the first into the room, Kara and Clark behind him. Slade had just gotten through with them when the door crashed down behind them, separating them from Alex, Malcolm, and Laurel. “What the – ?” Kara spun around.

“Oliver!” Malcolm yelled, banging coming from the other side.

“Open the door!” Laurel shouted.

Clark checked around the door, shaking his head. “I can’t find the controls!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about your friends,” a cruel voice behind them said, and Kara’s face drained of all color as she spun around, emergency lights activating. Clark immediately placed himself in front of his cousin, Oliver and Slade turning as well. Lillian Luthor walked out from the shadows, smirking as she leaned against one of the monitors in the room. “They’ll be too _dead_ for you to care about.”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

“Malcolm, _open the goddamn door!”_

“What do you think I’m trying to do, Lance?!”

The lights in the corridor suddenly turned off, making the three outside turn around. “Who’s there?” Alex finally called out.

“A familiar face,” Hank Henshaw’s voice answered, and the three braced themselves as Cyborg Superman stepped into the emergency lighting, his cyber eye starting to glow.

“Careful, that shoots – ” Alex couldn’t finish before Henshaw shot heat vision from the eye, sending Alex, Malcolm, and Laurel to find cover. “ – heat vision!”

“Yeah, I can see that!” Malcolm quipped.

“Great,” Laurel ground her teeth. “Always wanted to fight a cyborg!”

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

“So, it’s been your band of vigilantes that’s been interfering with my business,” Lillian narrowed her eyes at Oliver. “A shame that this is how we meet.”

“You tried to _experiment_ on Supergirl,” Oliver growled. “You tried to kill her at her own job! You had one of our friends _killed!”_

“Would you rather it had been the boy?” Lillian countered.

Slade snarled. “Say something like that again, I’ll take out your eye.”

“Oh, please,” Lillian rolled her eyes. “I still have the advantage here.”

“How?” Clark frowned. “You’re alone.”

“And defenseless,” Kara added. “You don’t have a weapon on you.”

“No,” Lillian shook her head. “I suppose I don’t.”

She pressed something behind the monitor she had, and abruptly, the overhead lights came on. They didn’t shine white, though.

Oliver spun around as Kara and Clark both yelled in pain as they were bathed in glowing green light, both of them collapsing to the ground. “No!” he shouted, Slade rushing to check on them.

“But I’m the only one with the controls to the Kryptonite lights,” Lillian laughed.

“You _bitch!”_ Slade roared.

“Another word like that, and I up the power,” Lillian narrowed her eyes. “And they die that much quicker.”

Oliver narrowed his eyes, hearing Kara’s pained whimpers behind him. “What do you want?”

“There we are,” Lillian smiled in satisfaction. “Now, was that so hard?”

* * *

**_Laurel Lance_ **

Laurel ran out from her cover, screaming at Henshaw as powerfully as she could. He grunted, doubling over, and Malcolm and Alex rushed the cyborg. He ducked Alex’s punch, then held up his arm to block Malcolm’s sword strike. The assassin yelped and staggered backwards, staring at his bent sword in shock. “What the hell?”

“I told you there was a reason he calls himself Cyborg Superman!” Alex shouted, stumbling backwards when Henshaw threw a right hook at her.

Malcolm went at Henshaw again, only to earn a fist in the stomach. Laurel jerked backwards as Malcolm flew past her, crashing into the wall, and she winced. “Backup would be nice!” she shouted, even know she figured no one could hear her.

Or maybe someone did, because next thing she knew, there was a breach opening up, and out skidded Wally, Cisco and J’onn jumping out with him. “You,” Henshaw growled, turning to the man who had his form.

“I’ve been waiting for this,” J’onn narrowed his eyes, turning into his Martian form.

“Let’s kick some ass!” Cisco whooped as Wally sped forward, he and J’onn engaging Henshaw as Laurel hurried to check on Malcolm.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

Oliver smirked when he heard Cisco. “Doesn’t sound like it’s going too well for you out there.”

“Henshaw can handle his own,” Lillian shook her head. “Besides, I have something more.”

“What is it?” Slade growled.

“An incentive to let me go,” Lillian answered, turning on her monitor. Oliver scowled, keeping his bow ready as he walked forward. He took a look on the screen and paused, eyes wide.

It showed Kara in an alleyway, transforming into Supergirl before she took off. “No,” he whispered.

“I have several more videos like this,” Lillian smirked triumphantly. “It takes one push of a button to release these to worldwide news sources. Supergirl will never be able to live a normal life again.”

“Blackmail?” Slade narrowed his eyes. “You’re resorting to _blackmail?”_

“I call it a means of escape,” Lillian countered. “So, what will it be? Let me go, and I delete these videos? Or decide to hurt or kill me, and these are released? Your choice.”

* * *

**_Malcolm Merlyn_ **

With the two additional metahumans and the Green Martian, Henshaw was failing quicker than he would have just up against Malcolm, Laurel, and Alex. He and J’onn exchanged multiple blows, and Henshaw had to keep in mind punches were coming from Wally faster than he could see, and he had to avoid Cisco’s energy blasts and Laurel’s screams as well.

“How’s he still standing?” Malcolm couldn’t help but marvel as he and Alex took cover in one of the corridors.

“He’s strong,” Alex answered with a sigh. _“Extremely_ strong. He won’t go down with just one hit.”

Malcolm paused, then his eyes widened. “Then let’s not make it one.” He ran out into the corridor. “On my mark!” he shouted, drawing an arrow. He didn’t get a response, but he didn’t expect one. He did notice they gave him an opening, though, and Malcolm took it. He fired the arrow he had.

Henshaw caught it and gave him a condescending look. “Really?”

“Really,” Malcolm grinned like the devil.

The arrow exploded in Henshaw’s face, and he staggered, losing his balance. That was all it took for Laurel to scream at him, Cisco to unleash full blasts of energy, and for Wally to spin in circles and toss lightning at him. Henshaw roared in pain, the cybernetic parts of his head shattering as he went to his knees.

One more explosive arrow from Malcolm, and Henshaw collapsed on the ground, dead. “Woo!” Cisco cheered, bending over double. “Wow, that was a whammy!”

“You good?” Wally asked, looking at him.

“Yeah,” Cisco waved him off. “Nothing a cup of caffeine won’t fix.”

“One cup of tea because you’re my best friend?” Laurel suggested before blinking rapidly and groaning, rubbing her head.

Cisco and Wally stared at her in shock, completely ignoring Malcolm, who couldn’t help but burst into hysterical laughter. “Girl, are you high or something?” Cisco finally asked.

“You have _no_ idea,” Malcolm chortled.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

When silence fell outside, Lillian’s eyes widened. “No,” she breathed, shaking in anger. _“No!”_

Her distraction was all Slade needed to raise his gun and fire repeatedly into the monitor Lillian had the videos on. She jumped backwards as the monitor toppled and fell, shattering upon impacting with the floor. “Oops,” the Aussie snarked.

Oliver drew an arrow, aiming at Lillian. “It’s over,” he snarled. “You are going to _pay_ for what you have done, Lillian Luthor. And it will not be by the courts.”

“Then I won’t go down alone,” Lillian spat, pressing the button on the remote she had hidden behind the monitor.

Oliver shot his arrow into her heart just as Slade shot her in the head, Lillian toppling to the ground, dead before she hit the ground. But even as she fell, the overhead lights turned on to full power, blinding Oliver and Slade with how bright they are.

Clark howled in pain, Kara’s wails breaking Oliver’s heart. “Kara!” he yelled, running to her side as she and Clark collapsed on the ground entirely, glowing green lighting up their veins and their eyes, making them twitch and seize.

The door opened, and Alex screamed, running inside, her eyes wide. “Kara!” she sobbed.

“Oh, my God,” Cisco’s jaw dropped.

“Get them to the D.E.O., now!” J’onn yelled, and Wally hastily sped Kara away, returning a second later to take Clark away.

Alex snarled, turning to Lillian’s corpse, watching her life blood drain out onto the floor. “That _bitch!”_

“Get what you can from the computers here,” Oliver ordered Cisco. “Anything that can be used to ruin Lillian and destroy Cadmus, I want it.”

“And when I’m done?” Cisco asked.

“Blow the place up!” Oliver snapped.

“Right,” Cisco winced. “Uh huh. Will do. And, uh . . . ” He concentrated and opened up a breach. “That goes to the D.E.O.!”

The others ran through quickly, and Cisco rubbed his hands together, turning around and looking at the other monitors in the room. “Let’s get to work.”

* * *

**_William Clayton/Oliver Queen_ **

“Oh, thank G – ” Winn began when he heard the crackle of electricity, only to yelp and drop his tablet when he saw Wally speed through and deposit an unconscious Kara on a medical bed. _“Oh, my God!”_

“You’re kidding me!” Iris ran over as Wally came through again, this time with Clark. “You are _so_ kidding me!”

“Kara!” William gasped, face draining of color when he saw how completely still she was.

“Sun lamps!” Winn ran over, nearly tripping over his feet in his haste. “We need the sun lamps!”

Wally sped around to set them up, getting them on the highest setting, directing them onto the two Kryptonians. One of Cisco’s breaches opened up, and out came Oliver, Slade, Malcolm, Laurel, Alex, and J’onn. “What happened?” Curtis demanded.

“Lillian Luthor happened,” Oliver spat angrily, running to Kara’s side, closely followed by Alex. “They had the lights on them for a good ten minutes or so!”

“Oh, please let this work,” Alex quietly begged to no one as she ran around, setting up monitors to keep track of the Kryptonians’ vitals.

“Come on, little one, don’t do this to us now,” Slade whispered, seeing how weak Kara’s pulse was.

“Dad?” William looked up at Oliver worriedly.

Oliver swallowed, wrapping his arm around his son’s shoulders, feeling him bury his face into his side. “Come on, Kara,” he pleaded. “Come on!”


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter before the epilogue. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Kara Danvers_ **

She could hear something . . . and it sounded familiar . . .

“Cisco.”

“Mmm?”

“Why the hell is this playing?”

“It’s how Barry woke up! I played his favorite song!”

“And how did you find out this was _her_ favorite song?”

“Well, Barry said she sang a killer version of it in the musical world!”

“They were in a _what?”_

And then there was the death grip on one . . . no, _both_ of her hands . . . one grip tinier than the other. She instinctively tried to squeeze, only managing to do it slightly.

But the person holding her right hand immediately shot upright. “Kara?” Oliver’s voice immediately flooded her senses. “Kara, can you hear me?”

“See?” Cisco’s voice crowed. “Told you!”

“Kara?” William’s voice came from her other side.

“Come on, Kara, open your eyes,” Oliver whispered.

She felt Oliver’s lips on her forehead, and she struggled to open her eyes. Immediately, she was hit with bright glares, and she groaned in pain, instinctively flinging an arm over her eyes. “Turn them down!” Oliver shouted. The light diminished significantly, and Kara blinked the light out of her eyes and turned her head slightly. Her blue orbs found Oliver’s terrified emerald ones. The moment their eyes met, he relaxed significantly. “Oh, thank _God,”_ he said in relief.

“Welcome back, little one,” Slade smiled from where he, Malcolm, Laurel, and Thea stood behind Oliver.

“Kara!” William grinned, lunging to hug her.

“Whoa!” Kara grunted, but laughed, wrapping her arm around William as he clung to her. “Hey, there, buddy! Thanks for snapping me out of it . . . ” She paused, seeing everyone around her was no longer in their suits. “How long was I out?” she asked worriedly.

“Four days,” Alex answered, walking over to check her vitals. “Clark woke up two days ago and nearly went into a frenzy when he found out you were still out cold. He did an interview with Miss Grant, though, since you couldn’t do it. The media’s been eating up Cadmus’s defeat like kids in a candy store.”

“And President Marsden has given the order to wipe Cadmus out completely,” J’onn added.

“It’s over?” Kara whispered, tears in her eyes.

“It’s over,” Oliver confirmed, smiling widely. “You won’t need to worry about them ever again.”

“Oh, thank Rao,” Kara closed her eyes, flopping back onto the bed. A moment later, she frowned. “Is this Moon River?”

“Yeah!” Cisco poked his head in through the doorway. “It was just on a whim, but I figured, worth a shot!”

“You’re awesome, Cisco,” Kara said drowsily, burrowing back into her pillow.

“You’d think after four days, you’d want to be up and moving, blondie,” Rene joked, but he had a fond smile on his face.

“Someone punch him,” Kara mumbled.

That sent everyone into fits of laughter. “Go back to sleep, angel,” Oliver told her, running his hand over her hair. “We’re not going anywhere.”

Kara nuzzled into his hand slightly, feeling William squeeze her other hand as she nodded off again.

* * *

**_Kara Danvers/Oliver Queen_ **

When she opened her eyes the next time, activity in the D.E.O. had significantly decreased.  She found herself looking to William’s side of her bed, and she couldn’t help but smile, seeing he had fallen asleep with his head on the side of the bed. She gently reached up to run her hand through his hair, then felt a hand take her other one. She turned her head and smiled softly at the man who looked like he hadn’t even moved since she’d last seen him. “Hi,” she whispered.

“Hey yourself,” Oliver smiled softly. “How’re you feeling?”

Kara tilted her head from side to side. “My face feels like it could peel off,” she answered. “But that was probably because my head was tilted towards the Kryptonite.”

Oliver shook his head. “I never want any of that near you again.”

“Ditto.”

Oliver looked down at their entwined hands, then took a deep breath. “You flatlined three times,” he told her quietly, making Kara’s eyes widened. “Spaced far apart enough that we didn’t know if you were going to make it.” He shook his head. “I think William might have cried himself hoarse.”

“Oh, Rao,” Kara breathed in horror, looking over at the boy. “And just after Samantha . . . ”

“You scared us _so_ much,” Oliver choked out, and Kara quickly turned back around, feeling him squeeze her hand harder. “Kara, we were all afraid you’d taken in too much Kryptonite, that you couldn’t come back from it.”

“Of course I would,” she immediately assured him, releasing his hand to cup his cheek. “How could I not when I had my boys to come back to?” Oliver smiled widely at her words, and Kara attempted to sit up. He reached over to help elevate the bed, and when he did, Kara reached over to kiss him fiercely. He responded at once, cupping her face with both hands, resting his forehead against hers. “Thank you,” she whispered. “And I love you . . . _so_ much.”

“I made you a promise,” Oliver smiled. “I told you I’d come if you needed me to.”

“You killed the devil incarnate,” Kara shook her head. “That was above and beyond what I expected.”

“Well,” Oliver shrugged like it was nothing. “She deserved it.”

Kara giggled. “Still . . . just let me say thank you?”

“I guess,” he chuckled, bending down and kissing the top of her head. “As long as you don’t scare me like that again.”

“I make no promises for the guys that will probably try to make that happen.”

Oliver conceded the point, smoothing Kara’s hair back and watching her drift off again. He settled back in his chair, holding Kara’s hand loosely in his, then caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He straightened slightly, only to relax when he saw Slade and Malcolm move to cover both sides of the doorway to the medbay. With a smile on his face, he sat back to relax and keep an eye on his girlfriend.

* * *

**_Kara Danvers_ **

“Why did I make you agree to this?” Alex couldn’t help but ask J’onn a few days later as Oliver and Kara walked by.

“Why did you even _try_ to make me?” J’onn responded.

“What’s going on?” Kara asked, leading Oliver over, only to stop and burst out laughing when she saw what they and Clark were watching.

Cisco was in her pod, pretending he was flying it, Felicity and Curtis grinning widely as Iris snapped photos, the rest of the Earth-1 gang laughing as well. “I’m givin’ her all she’s got, Cap’n!” he shouted, and even Oliver face palmed, unable to keep from grinning. “The ship can’t take much more of this!”

“The pod’s shut down, Cisco!” Kara called.

He yelped and hastily tried to get out. “Sorry!” he called, eyes wide. “Sorry! I knew it was yours, but . . . well . . . ”

“Hey, you helped save my life,” Kara shook her head. “It’s cool.”

“Oh, good,” Cisco relaxed as Iris walked over, giggling as she swiped through her photos. “I thought you might kill me.”

“No,” Wally smirked, checking Iris’s photos. “If anyone’s gonna kill you, it’ll be Harry.”

He pouted at him. “Thanks, Wally.”

"Pleasure."

“Hey,” Clark smiled at Kara.

“Hey,” she grinned back before hugging him.

“Oh, it’s good to see you up,” he smiled. “You had everyone worried.”

“Yeah, why were you up so quickly?” she pouted.

“I wasn’t attacked with Kryptonite nearly ever day the past month,” Clark pointed out. Kara stuck her tongue out at him, which made him laugh. “I need to return to Metropolis, but damn, it was good to be here when Cadmus fell.” He kissed her temple and whispered, “And don’t let that man go for anything.”

“I won’t,” Kara smiled shyly, kissing his cheek.

“Needless to say, if you hurt her, I’ll kill you,” Clark added cheerfully to Oliver, holding out his hand.

“You’d probably beat the line,” Oliver conceded, shaking his hand. “Good to meet you.”

Clark nodded, then took off, flying out of the D.E.O. “I still can’t believe there’s two of you,” Dig told Kara.

“Man, you gotta get used to it at some point,” Rene gave him a look.

“Oh, now I don’t know what to do,” Kara sighed, almost pouting. “I don’t have Cadmus to worry about now.”

“I’ve got a suggestion,” Lena smirked.

* * *

**_Oliver Queen_ **

“And keep them coming, M’gann!” Kara smiled as the entire group crowded the alien bar.

“You got it,” M’gann smiled, nodding.

“Now _this_ was a team-up,” Cisco said in immense satisfaction as shots were passed around.

“Cadmus was _way_ smarter than the Dominators,” Felicity agreed.

“Oh, I never want to run into those again,” Thea grimaced.

“Never met them, and I don’t think I want to,” Laurel frowned.

“You don’t,” Oliver snorted. “Mind control _sucks.”_

“You weren’t under it!” came three protests around the table.

“Oh, it doesn’t get much better than this!” Winn sighed with a smile.

“I kind of don’t want to leave,” Iris admitted.

“But no rest for the wicked,” Dinah sighed.

“Which means no rest for us,” Curtis nodded.

“Well, for what you’ve done to help us with Cadmus, you are all welcome to return to our Earth if you ever need to,” J’onn told them.

“Good,” Alex grinned. “More company for girls nights!”

“And it’s fair to say you’re all invited to the wedding,” Maggie added with a grin.

“How could we refuse?” Oliver smiled.

“Carefully,” Malcolm suggested cheekily, only to choke into his glass.

Everyone looked from Malcolm to Laurel, who was swirling her shot around, watching him choke as she lowered her hand from where she’d hit him on the back of the head. “Watch it,” she warned, making Oliver, Kara, Slade, and Thea go into hysterics.

“Shut up!” Malcolm groaned.

“Make us!” Slade practically cackled.

“Yeah? Maybe I will!”

“I’m going to miss this,” Kara admitted with a smile.

“Well, I’m certain we’ll be seeing you quite often in Star City now,” Dig said with a smirk.

“I should hope so,” Oliver raised an eyebrow at her.

“As long as I see you often here in National City,” Kara compromised.

“We’ll work it out,” he promised, making her smile.

“Mmm!” Cisco perked up suddenly, holding up a finger as he put his shot down. “That reminds me!” He looked through his jacket pockets before holding up a small box and sliding it across the table. “So you don’t need to call me every time you want to hop universes.”

Oliver’s eyes lit up as he took the box and opened it up, revealing another one of the interdimensional extrapolators. “Thank you, Cisco,” he smiled, Kara squealing in delight.

“Of course, man,” Cisco waved it off. “You got the girl, only right I help you get the chance to see her when you can.”

“Bad guys out of the way, the heroes get their happy ending,” James tilted his head back and forth. “Bit fairytale.”

“Only a bit of time before someone else tries to get in our way,” Oliver nodded.

“Well, they can try,” Kara grinned smugly at him. “We’re unmatchable, the two of us.”

Oliver chuckled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “That we are.”

“Well,” Alex raised her shot, smirking. “To us completely decimating the devil incarnate.”

“To all the lovebirds around the table,” Thea teased, making Winn and Felicity laugh.

Oliver rolled his eyes fondly, but Kara smiled at him. “To life being happy,” she offered.

Oliver smiled and nodded, remembering what he had told Barry after the Dominator invasion. “To life being full,” he offered his own.

“Cheers,” Dig nodded.

The members of Team Supergirl (Kara, Alex, Maggie, Winn, James, Lena, and J’onn), Team Arrow (Oliver, Thea, Dig, Slade, Malcolm, Laurel, Felicity, Curtis, Rene, Dinah, Nyssa, and Quentin), and Team Flash (Iris, Cisco, and Wally) all clinked their glasses together, drinking at the same time. “You know, Felicity, I’m gonna need to correct you on something,” Kara looked up at her. When she tilted her head in confusion, Kara gestured around the table. _“This_ is the best team-up ever.”

Murmurs of agreement came from around the table, and Kara leaned into Oliver as he kissed the top of her head. He couldn’t agree more. He had come to this universe expecting to help a friend, arguably his closest besides Barry and his team. Now he was coming away with allies from another universe, and said friend was now a girlfriend he loved to death, and his son wasn’t that far behind him.

Yes, he decided, leaning down to kiss Kara. Definitely the best team-up ever.


	21. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here ends the book, with some sickeningly sweet Kariver fluff before the next one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Supergirl, or any of the DC shows and their characters. They belong to the CW and their writers.

**_Kara Danvers_ **

“The last time I said goodbye to a boyfriend, I was saying goodbye for good,” Kara mused as she and Oliver walked through a grassy field not far outside of National City.

“You’re not going to lose me,” Oliver promised, squeezing her hand.

“I know,” Kara smiled, reaching up to kiss him.

Oliver kissed her back, smiling and resting his forehead against hers. The rest of the Earth-1 visitors had returned to their universe the previous day, allowing Oliver and Kara to have a day to themselves. All of them had agreed the couple deserved that before Oliver had to return to his universe and get back to his duties as mayor in Star City.

That didn’t mean the two had to like it. On the contrary – they absolutely hated the idea of having to be three dozen Earths apart. But they both had extrapolators now, fine tuned to each other’s as well so they could hop right to where the other extrapolator was if need be. Cisco really was a genius.

“I don’t want you to go,” Kara admitted quietly.

“I don’t want to, either,” Oliver smiled sadly, brushing her hair away from her face. “But I promise, as soon as I get the time, I’m coming back.”

“Not if I come to you first,” Kara couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re on, angel,” Oliver chuckled, kissing her forehead.

Kara closed her eyes, enjoying just being there alone with Oliver, the grass rustling around them, and she made the choice she had been debating since they had arrived. She reached to her neck and removed the chain she wore. “Take this,” she whispered, pressing it into his hand.

Oliver’s eyes widened, looking down at the ring she had given him. “Kara,” he began.

“No,” Kara shook her head. “You helped save me from every bad thing that could have happened. My life, my identity as Supergirl, my life at CatCo, my family . . . all of it could have been destroyed. Please, Oliver . . . if anyone deserves this, it’s you.” Oliver swallowed, then nodded, placing the chain and ring around his own neck, Kara smiling softly as he put it on. “We’ll come back to each other. We always will.”

Oliver could only nod in silent agreement, then reached into his jacket. “Now I’m glad I decided to make this.”

Kara blinked as he took a black leather cord from his pocket, and she gasped when she saw it was one of his green arrowheads converted into a pendant. “Oliver!”

“Slade and Malcolm might have helped,” he told her as she picked it up, eyes wide. “We’re not leaving each other completely.”

Kara smiled brightly, placing the cord around her neck, happy to have a weight of some kind where her father’s ring used to be. “Never,” she agreed.

Oliver smiled at her, then took a deep breath and pulled out the extrapolator Cisco had given him. He pressed the center button, watching as a breach sprang to life in front of him. He turned back to Kara, seeing tears already starting to gather in her eyes. “I’ll see you again,” he promised.

“You better,” she managed to smile.

“I will,” he promised, kissing her deeply. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you, too,” Kara responded quietly.

He kissed her forehead again before reluctantly stepping away. Kara released his hand, taking a deep breath as he walked to the breach. She gave him a wave, which he returned before walking through. The breach snapped shut behind him, and it was just Kara alone in the field.

She closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the sun, basking in its rays. She was alone now, that she acknowledged, reaching up to touch the pendant Oliver had given her. She examined it again, noting how the green arrowhead was polished until it shone like an emerald. To some people, it might have seemed like a cheap thing to give. But Oliver had made it for her, with the help of two men who could be her surrogate older brothers.

She wasn’t entirely alone any longer.

The wail of sirens carried to her ears, and Kara turned, smiling as she looked at her city glittering. The sooner she continued on with her life, the sooner that meant she could see Oliver again, she decided, and with a grin, she took off running, unbuttoning her shirt as she went. She leapt into the sky, the wind blowing her hair behind her, and she laughed in pure glee, flying to save the day, one thought on her mind.

_Here’s to life being full._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Book 3, called "To Life Being Full," will be up shortly! It will follow Arrow Season 6 and Supergirl Season 3, with some exceptions because some episodes I deemed important enough to have their own book, such as "Crisis on Earth-X."
> 
> Thanks for sticking around!


End file.
